DIPLOMACY
Recruitment denied
The French Office in Taipei yesterday issued a statement denying that it had commissioned local human resource consultants to hire mercenaries. According to a Chinese-language media report, a human resource firm had been commissioned by the French government to hire Legionnaires and was looking for individuals under the age of 40 with no history of tuberculosis. The company was set to hold press conferences in Taipei and Kaohsiung on Friday next week, the report said, adding that there was no restriction to nationality and no documentation certifying that the individual had no previous criminal records was required. The job would pay NT$110,000 a month, the report said. The French representative office said that it had not been notified of such recruitment and that French law strictly limits recruitment for the French Foreign Legion to French territories only. The French government would not allow and would never recruit mercenaries abroad through human resource agencies, the office said. It also denied commissioning the company to hire mercenaries and asked Taiwanese not fall for the scam. The office said the French government has its own recruitment Web site for the legion.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
KMT-CCP forum plans set
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) sources yesterday said that an annual forum hosted by the party and the Chinese Communist Party would take place next month, and that detailed plans — including whether New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), the party’s chairman, would lead the delegation to Shanghai — would be announced today. “It is natural for the delegation to be led by the party chairman,” sources said, short of confirming speculation that Chu might take advantage of the occasion to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The forum comes at a sensitive time because the KMT’s presidential hopefuls must register for the party’s presidential primary by May 18. This has triggered speculation that Chu would not take part in the primary if he attends the forum, to avoid the impression that he has been handpicked by China to be the party’s presidential candidate.
EDUCATION
Oxford to get center
The National Central Library on Wednesday said it has launched a partnership with the University of Oxford to establish the Republic of China’s 14th center for Chinese studies overseas. The center at Oxford will provide resources for Chinese studies and promote the academic accomplishments of Taiwanese scholars, the library said. Both sides also signed another memorandum of understanding to exchange books to facilitate academic discourse, it said. The center at Oxford will become the second of its kind in Britain. The first was established at the University of London in 2012. Taiwan has been establishing such centers in countries around the world, including the US and Russia, since 2012.
HEALTH
Measles warning issued
People planning to travel to Europe should be aware there has been a surge in the number of cases of measles reported on the continent, the Centers for Disease Control said yesterday. Travelers who do not have measles immunity are advised to get vaccinated two to four weeks before their departure for Europe, but if symptoms such as a fever, nasal inflammation or rash develop during a trip, medical treatment should be sought immediately, it said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater