■ Health
Taiwan must join WHO: Chen
President Chen Shui-bian yesterday (陳水扁) stressed the importance of Taiwan obtaining access to the World Health Organization (WHO). Speaking at a ceremony to honor senior medical workers, Chen said the reappearance of SARS in Taiwan has reminded the world of the loophole in its anti-epidemic frontline caused by Taiwan's absence from the WHO, which coordinates the global efforts to fight epidemics. Noting that Taiwan succeeded in overcoming the disease on its own earlier this year, Chen said the episode brought home to both the international community and the country that epidemics know no political boundaries and that the world's attempts to bring epidemics under control are hampered by shutting Taiwan out for political reasons. Now that the disease has reappeared in Taiwan due to the negligence of a scientist engaged in SARS research that caused him to become infected by the disease on Dec. 17, the president said the case serves as a warning to both the world and the country that Taiwan should be included in the WHO as soon as possible.
■ Culture
Austronesian fest opens
The 2003 Austronesian Cultural Festival opened yesterday in Taitung, focusing on the weaving and knitting skills of Austronesian civilization. The festival, organized by the Taitung County Government and the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung City, is the final large-scale tourist activity to be held by the government this year. It will run through Dec. 30. In addition to Taiwan's 10 Aboriginal groups, the organizers have also invited performance troupes from Canada, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Hawaii to take part. Festival-goers will be able to get a better understanding of the movements of the Austronesian people and of their marine and terrestrial cultures. On the evening of Dec. 31 there will be a party, featuring various types of music, including jazz and Latin from Cuba and Brazil.
■ Economics
Trade with China up 29.4%
Trade between Taiwan and China amounted to US$44.63 billion in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of 29.4 percent over the same period of last year, according to a report by the New China News Agency. The report quoted an official of China's Ministry of Commerce as saying that the outbreak of SARS earlier this year had little impact on cross-strait trade, because 80 percent of Taiwan's investments in China are in manufacturing industries. In the first 10 months of this year, Chinese imports from Taiwan totaled US$39.59 billion, an increase of 28.7 percent over the same period of last year. China's exports to Taiwan totaled US$7.04 billion in the same period.
■ Architecture
Skyscraper fails to impress
Plans to build the world's tallest skyscraper in New York barely caused a ripple yesterday in Taipei, home to the building that currently claims that title. The island's media paid little attention to the plan announced in New York on Friday to build a 532.8m glass tower on the site where terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and other buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. The New York structure, dubbed the Freedom Tower, would top Taipei 101, which stands at 502.8m. A Taiwanese architect said no one expected Taipei 101 to stay the world's tallest building forever. "With technology advancing constantly, it's only a matter of time before a higher building will be completed," Richard Lee said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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