The Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan (FMPAT) launched a fund-raising campaign yesterday as part of its efforts to help Japanese people affected by recent earthquakes in Niigata Prefecture in northeastern Japan.
FMPAT Chairman Wu Shu-min (吳樹民), who is also a national policy adviser to the president, said the fund-raising campaign is aimed at expressing the Taiwan people's concern for the earthquake victims and gratitude for Japan's pass assistance to Taiwan.
"We look forward to raising at least NT$5 million in the next week or two to help with Japan's post-disaster relief work," Wu said.
Acknowledging that Japan is richer and more advanced than Taiwan, Wu said the planned donation is primarily moral support to express Taiwan's goodwill toward the Japanese people. Taipei's Jen Chi Hospital, where Wu works, has decided to donate NT$1 million, he said.
Quoting recent statements by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山), Wu said Taiwan's annual foreign aid accounts for a marginal 0.07 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) , far below the UN-proposed standard of 0.7 percent of GDP.
In his view, Wu went on, Taiwan should be more active in fulfilling its international obligations as a member of the global village now that the nation has become the world's 18th-largest economy.
Cabinet spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said a day earlier that the Taiwan government has extended condolences and sympathy to Japan over the recent earthquake disaster.
"Premier Yu Shyi-kun expressed his concern and sympathy to Japanese Prime Minister Ichiro Koizumi through the Taiwan representative office in Japan right after Niigata Prefecture was shaken by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake and a series of aftershocks last Saturday, " Chen Chi-mai said.
In addition, Chen Hung-chi (陳鴻基), Taiwan's deputy representative to Japan, paid a visit to the Niigata Prefecture authorities Tuesday in the company of Kazuo Okazawa, president of a pro-Taiwan Japanese parliamentarians association, to convey President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) and Premier Yu's concern for the earthquake victims.
"Chen Hung-chi also presented
According to the Taiwan representative office in Japan, there are about 146 Taiwan expatriates and students in the Niigata area. However, only the home of one Taiwanese physician in the region was partially damaged, while none of the other expatriates or students incurred any losses.
Noting that Japan offered various kinds of assistance to Taiwan when the island's central mountainous region was devastated by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, Chen Chi-mai said the government has invited major private groups, including the Chinese National Association of Commerce and Industry, the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, Christian churches and other charitable organizations, to donate relief goods to be sent to the Niigata disaster zone in the near future.
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