Several DPP Taipei City councilors urged Bureau of Health Director Chiu Shu-ti (
"Now that Twu has resigned, shouldn't [Chiu] resign?" DPP Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) demanded yesterday during a council session.
In response to Wang's questioning, Chiu said that she had already offered her written resignation to the mayor last week.
Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in support of Chiu, said, "I declined to accept Chiu's resignation because we are still struggling to gain control of SARS. It is simply not the right time for her to go."
Other DPP councilors raised similar questions.
DPP councilor Yen Sheng-kuan (
Ma said he did not know whether hospital outbreaks were going to happen again, and it was not the right time to change officials. "Otherwise, it could affect the morale of the SARS fighters," Ma said.
Although Ma was insistent on keeping Chiu, both he and Chiu offered their public apologies during the council meeting.
"I am sorry that the Taipei City Government could not control the epidemic immediately," Ma said.
Ma and Chiu also bowed to the councilors, as a gesture of apology to Taipei's citizens.
The gesture of remorse did not seem to impress the councilors. Some attacked Ma himself, instead of focusing on Chiu.
Wang told Ma, "All evidence so far has pointed towards Wu having been responsible for what happened in [Taipei Municipal} Hoping Hospital. Why did you decide to send him to Hoping when he was on trial for corruption in a purchase scandal?"
Ma replied by saying, "The trial was closed and Wu was proven innocent before he was made the Hoping superintendent."
Wang insisted that the trial was still ongoing.
DPP councilors also voiced their opposition to a plan for having Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital focus on SARS treatment.
"If Hoping is going to have its equipment upgraded to care for more SARS patients, then other municipal hospitals should follow Hoping's example," New Party Councilor Chen I-chou (陳義洲) said.
"Why should Hoping take in more SARS patients than than other hospitals? Hoping is too close to the local residents, and the area around Hoping is densely populated. Is it really suitable for Hoping to take in so many SARS patients?" Chen demanded.
Ma answered that, "It would be nice if we could have a hospital big enough to contain all the SARS patients in one place, as they do in Singapore. "But Taipei simply cannot do this, due to a lack of resources," he said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
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