Newly appointed minister for the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) said in an interview with the Taipei Times yesterday that it is practical for the nation to aim for one gold medal and one silver medal at the Beijing Olympic Games.
“Previously, the nation has aimed for seven gold medals in Olympic Games,” she said, “but those who are familiar with sports affairs know that it is an impossible goal.”
Tai said the council could only hope to provide athletes with sufficient resources for them to compete in the Olympics.
Tai also said that she agreed with the idea of “0.7 gold” proposed by Peng Tai-ling (彭臺臨), director of the council’s sports-for-all department, and said that this is a more practical calculation of the nation’s performance in Olympic Games.
Peng was referring to the performance of taekwondo star Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎), who Peng thought has a 70 percent of the chance of winning the gold medal.
Tai also discussed the relocation of council headquarters to southern Taiwan.
A majority of the council’s staff are now working in Kaohsiung. Only a small number are still working in Taipei, she said.
She said that people in southern Taiwan were entitled to hope that more sports events could be held in their area, but the council needed to evaluate if the move has actually contributed to sports development in the south.
UNITY: Lai thanked the nations who spoke up for Taiwan, saying that democracies must stand together to face global authoritarian expansion Taiwan yesterday thanked eight European and Indo-Pacific countries for opposing unilateral changes to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement earlier this week, as well as three of Taiwan’s allies for speaking up for the nation’s participation in the UN at the body’s General Assembly in New York. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) welcomed the support and expressed his appreciation for the countries’ stance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Foreign ministers and senior representatives of Australia, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea and the UK issued a statement on Tuesday
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AT-RISK GROUPS: Of the accumulated 1,586 severe cases and 304 related deaths in this flu season, 65.8% were older people and 83.2% had chronic diseases, an official said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that 165 severe flu cases and 30 flu-related deaths were reported last week, the highest weekly numbers in this flu season, and that cases might continue to increase, urging people to take precautions. Medical visits for flu-like illnesses increased by 1.4 percent to 141,374 last week, with 11.8 percent being emergency visits, showing that the seasonal flu is still in its epidemic period, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to Monday, 165 severe flu cases and 30 flu-related deaths were confirmed, the highest weekly numbers
FACTS DISTORTION: The MAC rejected Xi’s remarks that the US and ‘China’ fought side-by-side during WWII, saying the ROC was Washington’s true ally during the war Taiwan yesterday denounced Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) comments to US President Donald Trump on the nation’s future, after Xi appeared to push Trump for a subtle change in stance that could erode US support for Taiwan. Xi told Trump in Washington on Thursday that he hoped the US would adhere to the “correct position” of opposing Taiwanese independence, according to a Chinese readout of the talks. That would be a tougher version of Washington’s long-standing formulation that it does not “support” independence. There was no immediate White House readout of the exchange. Xi’s remarks represent “the consistent Chinese approach of distorting facts
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