The Presidential Office yesterday said that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will decide whether to issue an emergency decree after the National Security Council (NSC) holds a top-level meeting this week to evaluate the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
"The meeting will discuss the topic of international cooperation, overall epidemic prevention, state image, military resources, national mobilization and the laws and regulations," Huang said.
"The government will establish four centers -- in northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan -- to offer centralized treatment of SARS patients and the most experienced medical staff will be placed in charge of medical teams," Huang said.
If the president issues the emergency decree, Huang said, Taiwan may have to shut down some communities and facilities open to the general public and the government will need to come up with comprehensive mechanisms, such as the suspension of the small direct links between China and Kinmen, to restrict all traveling to SARS infected areas overseas.
Huang said that Chen is has full confidence in the Cabinet's ability to successfully conquer the challenges posed by the epidemic. He added that the National Security Committee is prepare to hold a high-level meeting this week to evaluate the entire situation before making any proposals to the president.
"If the spread of the epidemic gets any worse, the president may have to issue an emergency decree to cope with the epidemic's devastation on Taiwan's economy, public order and national defense," he said.
Huang added that the Cabinet has given regularly briefings on the latest development of the government's anti-SARS efforts to the president and Chen has expressed his complete trust in Premier Yu Shyi-kun and his team.
Chen yesterday also expressed his concerns about the spread of the epidemic and urged people to jointly work with the government to overcome the challenge.
"I hope that all private sectors, local governments and the central government, irrespective of their the political orientation, will coordinate their efforts to contain the spread of the disease," Chen said in a news release issued yesterday.
"I have urged our countrymen to remain on high alert but they should not panic," Chen said. "However, now I must say that the challenge we face is obviously much more difficult than we first thought," Chen said.
"To prevent the spread of the epidemic, I call on all people of the country to hang in together and join the anti-SARS campaign," the president said. "I would like to remind you all that we must seize every minute and second since the disease-control network has already shown a loophole."
"To fight SARS, we must realize that the government would rather be strong than ineffective," Chen said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS