The Discovery Channel yesterday said it would present a new series of documentaries that showcase Taiwan’s achievements in medicine, agriculture and industrial innovation.
The three-episode program, which was made in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is to premiere tomorrow, Arjan Hokstra, president and managing director of Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, told a press conference in Taipei.
The first episode, titled Taiwan Revealed: Body Reconstructed, focuses on Taiwanese microsurgeon Wei Fu-chan (魏福全) and his team at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s plastic reconstructive surgery department.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Wei, among the world’s top plastic and reconstructive surgeons, has provided surgical treatment to peopled injured at work or those needing craniofacial reconstruction, among others.
The episode features how Wei and his team treated three people and helped restore their dignity. The patients include a Taiwanese man who lost 10 fingers in an accident and a Hong Kong woman who lost her lower jaw from a gunshot.
Another episode, Taiwan Revealed: Convenient Truths, scheduled to air on Thursday next week, showcases cutting-edge agricultural innovations in Taiwan, the channel said.
Among the featured stories are a high-tech LED lighting system that helps produce beautiful water bamboo in Nantou County, a prewarning system for fruit flies that protects guava farms in Changhua and the invention of a membrane that can recycle and reuse industrial water.
The final documentary in the series, Taiwan Revealed: Innovation Island, is to air on June 19. Featured stories include the world’s first transparent smartphone, which was introduced by a Taiwanese company, and the use of coffee grounds to produce odor-resistant fabric.
At the press conference, Hokstra said that “this year marks Discovery Channel’s 20th anniversary in the Asia-Pacific.”
As part of the channel’s efforts to tell local stories from a global perspective, the channel has worked with the ministry to produce several documentary series on Taiwan over the past 10 years, he added.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and many Taiwan-based foreign officials attended the press conference, during which video clips from the programs were shown.
Ma praised Discovery Channel’s role in helping promote Taiwan on the international stage and recommended that the channel also produce documentaries featuring outstanding Taiwanese such as Lien Jih-ching (連日清), a specialist in mosquito-borne diseases who has played an important role in combating malaria.
The Taiwan Revealed series will be aired in 36 countries and territories across the Asia-Pacific region this month and next, the channel said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS