Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達), former president of Taipei Medical University, took up his new post as the head of the Department of Health yesterday, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of his predecessor following the passage of a controversial health reform plan last month.
“It is going to be an adventure for me,” Chiu said at a ceremony where he formally took over the post.
Though he said he was excited and ready for the challenge, the new minister expressed some unease over medical administration, a relatively new field for him.
The 61-year-old neurosurgeon served as president and professor at the university for many years and was best known to the public for promoting legislation on bicycle helmets, aimed at decreasing the number of brain injuries and accidental deaths on roads.
Chiu said his main focus would be to promote and execute the second-generation health plan, which was passed as an amendment to the National Health Insurance Act (全民健保法) by the legislature on Jan. 4.
He said his department would hold meetings around the country to help the public better understand the plan.
Chiu’s predecessor, Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良), resigned following a drawn-out process to pass a health reform plan aimed at stabilizing the national health insurance system’s finances.
Yaung came under fire when his original plan to charge premiums based on household income was rejected by the legislature, and once a compromise plan closer to the system currently in place was enacted, he opted to leave the government.
Chiu said that before implementing the new health plan, he would concentrate on preparations for the program, including holding cross-ministerial discussions to prevent possible problems between agencies in the future.
His other priorities, he said, would be to push for a long-term care plan for the elderly and to boost food safety.
Jack Lee (李允傑) assumed his post as head of the National Youth Commission yesterday, promising to play the role of a communicator and to learn more about how Taiwan’s young people think.
Lee, a professor at National Open University, succeeded Wang Yu-ting (王昱婷) at a ceremony overseen by Minister Without Portfolio Ovid Tseng (曾志朗).
Lee said his main tasks would be to address the needs of underprivileged youth, help young people find jobs, build up a social network and provide information on employment, study and leisure activities.
Lee said he intended to travel around Taiwan to talk to students at colleges and universities.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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