FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Belize officials lauds ties
Belize Senate President Lee Mark Chang yesterday praised the warm ties between his nation and Taiwan at the inauguration of an association comprising lawmakers from both sides. Belize will continue to stand with Taiwan and speak up for it at international events, Chang said at the ceremony held at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Through the establishment of the association, the two nations could take collaborations between their legislatures to the next level and forge closer bilateral ties, he said. As the two nations mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, Chang said he would like to thank Taiwan for its long-term support for Belize, such as assistance in building its infrastructure.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Minister visiting Eswatini
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) is leading a delegation of five people to Eswatini to attend King Mswati III’s 51st birthday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The delegation is visiting the African nation until Sunday, it said. Wu is to present the king with three cows — customary gifts in the African kingdom for such an occasion — along with a handwritten congratulatory letter from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Aside from meeting the king and Queen Mother Ntombi Tfwala, Wu is to hold talks with the Eswatini Minister of Foreign Affairs Thulisile Dladla to discuss bilateral cooperation projects and sign a memorandum of understanding to promote women’s economic empowerment in the African kingdom, the ministry said.
SOCIETY
TAS club holds flea market
The Taipei American School (TAS) Orphanage Club is to host its semi-annual flea market on Saturday from 10am to 3pm in the school’s cafeteria and the hallway to the cafeteria. People will be selling jewelry, antiques, books, clothing, toys, games and many other interesting items. There will also be vendors offering Indian and Chinese food, as well as Krispy Kreme donuts and Lutetia Cafe croissants and cookies. There is no admission fee and all proceeds are to benefit needy children and orphans in Taiwan and overseas, which the club has been helping for nearly 50 years. TAS is located at 800 Zhongshan N Road Sec 6 in Tianmu (天母).
LEGAL AFFAIRS
Want-Want plans lawsuit
Want Want Holdings on Tuesday published a statement in its newspaper threatening to file a defamation lawsuit against the Chinese-language Apple Daily, accusing it of smearing its reputation. The threat came after an Apple Daily report that Want Want’s subsidiary in China, Want Want China Holdings, received up to 477 million yuan (US$71 million) in subsidies from the Chinese government between 2017 and last year. Citing Want Want’s consolidated financial statements for 2017 to last year, the report said the company only noted the income as “government grants,” but did not specify the reasons for the subsidies or what they were used for. Want Want’s statement said that the subsidies from the Chinese government are aimed at attracting investment and are applicable to both domestic and foreign businesses that meet the necessary requirements. Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said that it is not against the law for China-based Taiwanese businesses to receive subsidies from the Chinese government, but when the firms are involved in media, then the issue could be a cause of concern for the government.
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
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
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