President Chen Shui-bian (
Su, while answering a question asked by a nominee for this year's National Youth Public Participation Award, was caught off-guard at the Taipei Guest House yesterday morning when a man accused him of lying.
The man, Lee Chun-da (
Su responded by saying that some people might think that he did not care much about the relocation of the facility, but that was not the case. He added that the government has offered compensation to patients and built a new sanitarium for them, many of whom found the environment quite satisfactory.
"Liar!" Lee shouted.
Visibly stunned by Lee's jeering, Su paused for a moment before he went on to say that the Executive Yuan did not have the authority to approve or disapprove the decision of the Taipei City and Taipei County governments, which plan to take the hospital apart and reconstruct part of it somewhere else.
On whether the hospital should be preserved, Su said that he would leave it to the experts and government agencies in charge.
While the Taipei County Government is responsible for affairs of cultural preservation, the Taipei City Government is in charge of traffic construction projects. Su said the two governments notified the Executive Yuan of their decision last year.
"It is not easy to strike a balance between cultural preservation and construction," he said.
The sanitarium was built in 1930 in Sinjhuang (
The Japanese government has admitted its inhumane treatment of the patients and victims have taken their battle for compensation to the courts. They won a victory last year when a Japanese judge ruled they were entitled to redress.
The Taipei City and Taipei County governments had originally planned to demolish the 70-year-old facility to make way for the Xinzhuang Line of the mass rapid transit (MRT) line.
Patients and human-rights advocates, however, refuse to give up the hospital, and the Council for Cultural Affairs would like to see it preserved as an historic site.
Chen said yesterday that he believed both the central and local governments have exerted themselves in the matter, and if some people still find their behavior unsatisfactory, he would like them to talk to Su face-to-face to prevent any further misunderstandings.
also see story:
Indie-music scene mobilizes with concert to protest land grab
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
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS