Thu, Apr 03, 2003 page3

• Taiwan Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ SARS
  Perng offers solution

  The dark days of the Asian financial crisis saw central bank governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) credited with finding the right medicine to cure the nation's financial woes. Now, as a deadly flu-like virus spreads rapidly around the world, Perng says a mixture of vinegar, crushed garlic, lily flowers and other Chinese herbal medicines can ward off severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Perng offered his own variant of the concoction to central bank employees and journalists, saying "this can be effective against SARS," one bank official said yesterday. In an internal memo, the central bank said its in-house grocery store would offer the vinegar-based potion for employees.

  ■ Meeting

  Taiwanese officials observe

  Two Taiwanese officials are participating in an international conference on controlling drug abuse and trafficking that opened in Panama City Monday. It is the first time in more than two decades that Taiwan has managed to take part in a global meeting on contraband drug control as an observer. Cabinet-level Coast Guard Administration officials Ko Chi-ming (柯繼明) and Liu Chih-wei (劉志偉) are representing Taiwan in the 21st International Meeting on Control of Drugs, which is jointly organized by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Police of Panama. Representatives from 63 countries are participating in the three-day meeting, which features discussions on international cooperation to facilitate the control of drug trafficking. Ko said the meeting gives him and his colleagues an opportunity to learn from the experiences of other countries in fighting drug trafficking.

  ■ Tourism

  Data show industry hurting

  The US-led war in Iraq and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome have taken a heavy toll on Taiwan's travel market, according to government figures released yesterday. Statistics compiled by the Bureau of Immigration show that the number of outbound travelers declined 20 percent last month compared with the year-earlier level. About 90 percent of China-bound tour groups have canceled their travel plans, with the daily decline reaching 4,900 people. Nearly all Hong Kong-bound individual travelers dropped their travel plans. The number of visitors to Japan fell by 10 to 20 percent last month while the number of Southeast Asia- and Europe-bound visitors decreased 30 percent to 40-percent and 20 percent to 30 percent, respectively. Foreign arrivals also plunged. The number of tourist arrivals slid 5.5 percent from the year-earlier level, according to the Bureau of Immigration.

  ■ SARS

  WTO meeting halted

  Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Ruey-lung (陳瑞隆) returned to Taipei yesterday after the World Trade Organization (WTO) suddenly halted a meeting in Beijing due to an alert over the global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Chen returned to Taiwan aboard a charter flight via Seoul rather than through Hong Kong, which, together with China, has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an affected area since the outbreak of the disease in the middle of last month. Chen had originally planned to return April 13 after the seminar had concluded, but the WTO decided to halt the proceedings following a WHO suggestion that meetings being held in Asia be canceled as soon as possible and that travelers return home as quickly as possible.
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