DIPLOMACY
Haiti gets donation
Taiwan has donated money to help Haiti combat a mosquito-borne viral disease that has affected tens of thousands of people in the country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. More than 39,000 Haitians have been confirmed as having Chikungunya, a viral disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes, Department of Latin American Caribbean Affairs Deputy Director-General Florencia Hsie (謝妙宏) said. “The ministry donated US$100,000 to sponsor Haiti’s program to combat the disease,” she said. The focus of the program is to sterilize the environment to prevent the reproduction of the mosquitoes that can transmit the disease, she said. Chikungunya causes fever, severe joint pain, muscle pain, headaches, fatigue and rashes. There is no cure and treatment focuses on relieving the symptoms.
ENTERTAINMENT
Weather delays festival
Today’s opening of the annual Ho-Hai-Yan Gongliao Rock Festival in New Taipei City has been postponed until tomorrow because of the passage of Typhoon Neoguri toward Okinawa, the organizer announced yesterday. The five-day event, one of most popular music festivals in the nation, is being held on a beach in Gongliao District (貢寮). The New Taipei City Tourism and Travel Department said the performance schedule for today through Sunday would not be changed, but the shows scheduled for today would be moved to Monday. Pop diva A Mei (阿妹) will perform on Sunday, the department said. The Central Weather Bureau said Neoguri weakened yesterday and is moving from the Japan’s Ryukyu Island chain toward Kyushu.
HEALTH
Changhua ups bird-flu fight
Changhua County strengthened its efforts to prevent bird flu outbreaks by introducing new equipment yesterday that will help keep areas where chickens are raised free of the virus. The county’s Animal Disease Control Center unveiled two new vehicles that are capable of disinfecting farms where domesticated birds are raised, adding to the four vehicles already in service, Deputy County Commissioner Lin Tien-fu (林田富) said. Lin said that while there have not been any reports of major flu outbreaks in the county, Changhua would not get complacent in taking precautions against the highly contagious bird flu, because Taiwan is situated on routes used by migratory birds. Reinforcing anti-bird-flu measures was important, Lin said, because while the central county is known as “the granary of Taiwan,” it is also home to more than 2,500 poultry farms and produces half the eggs consumed in Taiwan.
HEALTH
Severe dengue case reported
This first case this year of locally acquired severe dengue fever, also known as dengue hemorrhagic fever, has been reported in Greater Kaoh-siung’s Fongshan District (鳳山), the Centers for Disease Control said yesterday. The patient was a 44-year-old man with chronic disease, who was hospitalized with fever, headache and rashes, as well as muscle and joint pains, on June 21. The man has recovered and has been discharged from a Kaohsiung hospital. Two of his family members were diagnosed with classic dengue fever. According to the centers’ statistics, as of Monday, 211 cases of dengue fever have been reported this year: 92 imported and 119 locally acquired cases. The centers urged people with chronic diseases or who have previously had dengue fever to take extra care and step up prevention measures.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all