Taiwanese singer Huang An (黃安), who was at the center of a controversy involving teenage K-pop star Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) earlier this year, yesterday returned to Taiwan from China for medical treatment after suffering what he said was a heart attack.
The 52-year-old singer arrived at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) from Beijing onboard an air ambulance and was admitted to Cheng Hsin General Hospital in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) at about 1:55am.
Wearing sunglasses and a mask, Huang was taken into the hospital on a stretcher, escorted by about 10 men in black. In a microblog on Tuesday, the China-based singer said he had suffered a heart attack on Sunday that almost killed him, and he posted photographs of himself sitting on a hospital bed.
Photo: CNA
Huang, who has been pursuing his career in China since the late 1990s, is infamous in Taiwan for accusing individuals of being “pro-Taiwanese independence.” He stirred up a storm in January when he leveled the accusation at Chou after the 16-year-old appeared on a South Korean TV show late last year holding a Republic of China (ROC) flag.
His comments prompted mass criticism by Chinese netizens against Chou and resulted in an apology by her and her South Korean management company.
After the news of Huang’s return to Taiwan for medical treatment surfaced yesterday, many netizens in Taiwan expressed anger.
Some said Huang’s “body was more honest than his mouth,” adding that although “Huang often dislikes Taiwan, he always comes back when he is sick.”
Some said they were angry that Huang is still covered under the National Health Insurance (NHI) system.
“Taiwan’s National Health Insurance program is like a buffet meal for these scumbags,” one netizen wrote.
In response, the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) said any Taiwanese who maintains premium payments is entitled to coverage under the system.
National Taiwan University Hospital doctor Shih Jin-chung (施景中) criticized the government and protested that the NHI system was running out of money while the program was still funding the treatment of people like Huang.
Shih’s comments on his Facebook page were in response to media reports saying that Huang was accepted into an intensive care unit and could be taking up an extracorporeal life support machine, which are in short supply in Taiwan.
According to Shih, Huang was “an informer who has spared no effort to oppress Taiwanese in China, and yet is returning to Taiwan to benefit from the nation’s free medical services.”
Huang should not be entitled to benefits that are paid for by Taiwanese, Shih said.
Shih accused the NHIA of being hard on its own medical staff while showering attention on people like Huang, adding that this was the government’s so-called “justness and equality” as well as “looking after the disadvantaged.”
Shih called on the incoming Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to introduce changes to the system so that the government would not have to subsidize people like Huang.
Meanwhile, former minister of health Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said an individual’s political views should have no bearing on their national health insurance rights, adding that as Huang remains an ROC citizen and continues to pay his health insurance premiums, he is legally entitled to coverage under the program.
Additional reporting by Aaron Tu
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS