The Taipei Lifeline Association yesterday announced it would expand its “e-SOS” emergency-response system to other cities and counties in the hope that the database mechanism would reduce the nation’s growing suicide rate.
The “e-SOS” system was established in 2004 to reduce the amount of time needed to identify a person contemplating suicide and send help within 10 minutes. It has collected more than 60,000 pieces of information on those who have used the lifeline service.
The director-general of the association, Lee Yee-wen (李翼文), said the expansion of the system would seek to integrate the information platforms of the 22 lifeline associations around the country via the Internet to give immediate assistance and advice to potentially suicidal people.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is honorary chairman of the Republic of China Lifeline Association, attended the ceremony yesterday and called on suicidal people to seek help.
“The suicide rate grows whenever the economic situation is bad and I urge the lifeline volunteers to tell those considering suicide that the economy will get better. Don’t end your life because of the bad economy,” he said yesterday at the Taipei City Council.
The latest statistics from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed that the unemployment rate last month rose for the 10th month in a row to 5.75 percent, its highest level ever.
Ma said suicide was one of the top 10 causes of death in Taiwan, with the number of suicide cases increasing to more than 4,000 per year.
The expansion of the “e-SOS” system, Ma said, would raise the effectiveness of the suicide prevention service.
Lee said the Taipei Lifeline Association handled 15,000 calls per day on average and has helped over 100,000 people get through difficult times since it was established in 1969.
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TAIWAN ADVOCATES: The resolution, which called for the recognition of Taiwan as a country and normalized relations, was supported by 22 Republican representatives Two US representatives on Thursday reintroduced a resolution calling for the US to end its “one China” policy, resume formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and negotiate a bilateral Taiwan-US free trade agreement. Republican US representatives Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th District were backed by 22 Republican members of the US House of Representatives. The two congressmen first introduced the resolution together in 2021. The resolution called on US President Donald Trump to “abandon the antiquated ‘one China’ policy in favor of a policy that recognizes the objective reality that Taiwan is an independent country, not
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)