Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged the government to take a proactive role in the Middle East refugee crisis and do more to help those who have fled their war-torn homelands.
“As a member of the international community, we should step forward and face this major international humanitarian crisis together,” Tsai wrote on Facebook.
“We should help with the rescue efforts and should not be absent,” she said.
Taiwan has rich experience in international humanitarian assistance, Tsai added.
She urged the government to coordinate and mobilize public and private resources to help the refugees.
“Facing such cruelty, we are not at our wits’ end,” she wrote.
“We can work together and make a contribution,” she added.
On Facebook, Tsai mentioned the image of a dead Syrian toddler on a beach that has captured international attention, saying that it highlights the cruelty of war.
The four-year civil war in Syria has displaced more than 11 million people, 4 million of whom have become refugees, Tsai said.
“Behind these numbers are countless tears and tragedies,” she added.
As of October last year, the government had given more than US$7 million worth of relief supplies and other donations to help refugees in the Middle East, including temporary housing units, medical equipment, lighting devices and food.
Charity groups, such as World Vision Taiwan and the Tzu Chi Foundation, have also taken part in relief efforts to help refugees from the Middle East.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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