Taiwan's representative to Tokyo, Lo Fu-chuan (
Lo offered the apology during a meeting with Masaji Takahashi, president of the Japanese Interchange Association.
Lo said the government regrets the disturbance brought to the Japanese people by the Taipei Mackay Memorial Hospital doctor who visited Japan from May 8 to 13 and has since been listed as a probable SARS patient.
"We feel very sorry for the incident, " Lo told Takahashi. "We have since tightened enforcement of our quarantine regime to stem any possible cross-border SARS transmissions."
Takahashi said it was regrettable that the doctor, who presumably had contact with probable or suspected SARS patients, had failed to wait 10 days before making a non-essential trip to Japan.
Worse still, Takahashi said, the doctor didn't follow Japan's SARS-prevention rules which require foreign visitors to contact Japanese health authorities in case they develop a fever or other SARS-like symptoms.
Takahashi said the doctor's irresponsible move has caused misgivings among Japanese people.
He claimed that although both the Japanese central and local governments have mobilized many workers to disinfect areas where the doctor visited, business activities in certain areas have yet to return to normal.
On behalf of the Japanese government, Takahashi urged Taiwan to dissuade those who have had contact with suspected SARS patients within 10 days, particularly health-care workers, from visiting Japan.
Taiwan has furnished Japan with daily updates about its SARS situation since May 16.
"We hope this information service will continue and even further expand," Takahashi said.
Officials from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare were present at the meeting.
Lo assured them that the government will strengthen exchange of SARS information with Japan and step up enforcement of all quarantine measures.
Lo's apology followed a written statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last Saturday, saying it sincerely regretted the disturbance caused by the doctor's visit.
Lo told reporters after meeting that the incident will not affect Japan's support for Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Organization's assembly as an observer because the two events are unconnected.
Faced with criticism that the foreign ministry should not have offered the apology to Japan since it remains unclear who should be responsible for the incident, spokesman Richard Shih (
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS