President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he hopes Chinese students studying in Taiwan can be included in the National Health Insurance (NHI) system as soon as possible.
“[We] should act like a civilized nation,” in which Chinese students can enjoy the same treatment as Taiwanese, Ma said at a meeting at Chinese Youth International, a Taipei-based civil group devoted to the interactions of young people in Taiwan and overseas in various fields.
Whether to include Chinese students in Taiwan’s NHI system has been a controversial issue hotly debated among lawmakers, with opponents arguing that such a proposal could increase the financial burden on the system.
As a result, an amendment proposed by the Executive Yuan in 2012 to include Chinese students in the NHI system has been shelved at the legislature.
Ma said that offering Chinese students health insurance coverage would help both the students and the insurance system, as the students would likely consume few medical resources, but still have to pay an insurance fee of more than NT$600 each month.
Ma yesterday also said that he told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) when they met in November last year that the “one China, different interpretations” principle would not evolve into “two Chinas,” “one China, one Taiwan,” or “Taiwan’s independence.”
It is “one China, different interpretations,” instead of “one China, random interpretations,” Ma said, after the controversial “one China, common interpretation” (一中同表) formula was criticized in Saturday’s debate among candidates running in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship by-election.
Ma also said that “one China” refers to the Republic of China under the Constitution, and the two sides maintain the “status quo” of not seeking unification or independence and not using force against each other, he added.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
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
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
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