KAOHSIUNG
Health ambassador picked
Chen Chao-long (陳肇隆), a leading expert on liver transplants, on Monday said that he has agreed to serve as Kaohsiung’s “healthcare ambassador,” to promote the city’s medical sector to the world. An honorary superintendent of Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chen said that Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Friday asked if he was interested in taking on the role. “If it means doing good for Kaohsiung, then I’m up for it,” he said. Chen performed the first successful liver transplant in Asia in 1984 and performed the first living donor liver transplant in the nation in 1994. He has published more than 270 scientific articles and has lectured at nearly 200 international conferences. He also trains surgeons at home and abroad. Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has carried out more than 1,830 liver transplants, including 115 on foreign patients who visited Kaohsiung for the procedure.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Paraguay delegation visits
Taiwan expects to work hand in hand with Paraguay to advance bilateral trade and investment, and develop public infrastructure to create a win-win situation for both countries, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Monday. Tsai made the pledge while welcoming a visiting delegation led by Silvio Ovelar, president of Paraguay’s Chamber of Senators. Visits to Taiwan by Ovelar, the delegates and other Paraguayan friends of Taiwan have contributed to deepening the friendship between the two countries over the past 61 years, Tsai said, adding that her administration is committed to enhancing bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and infrastructure based on talks she had with Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez during his state visit in October last year.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
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