On behalf of her husband, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) yesterday urged judicial authorities to grant Chen a release from prison for medical treatment.
Wu, who is subject to house arrest during her 17-and-a-half-year prison sentence because of bad health, said she did not rule out organizing a protest against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) if the release were not granted.
Wu, who lives in Greater Kaohsiung, visited Chen, who is also serving a 17-and-a-half-year prison sentence for corruption, at Taipei Prison yesterday. She said Chen’s deteriorating health was worrisome.
Wu said Chen appeared to have been suffering from exhaustion and liver problems since he was granted a release to go to the funeral of Wu’s mother in Tainan in January.
Noting the poor health of his mother and aging grandmother, who is 85 years old, the former president’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), said he would file a request to have Chen Shui-bian relocated to a prison in southern Taiwan so that it would be more convenient for his family to visit.
In related news yesterday, the former president wrote in his column published in a weekly magazine that former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) needed to take a hard look at her election loss.
The Jan. 14 presidential election was “winnable” for Tsai as early as eight months before the election and as late as two months before polling day, he said, adding that “everything the DPP had expected to happen, did not happen,” including its vote-share simulation, mobilization and the impact of its slogan: “Hakka girl for president.”
The DPP has been trying to appeal to swing voters, but “history has shown that mobilizing the DPP’s core support is the winning formula,” he said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
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