Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced that she had picked former Academia Sinica vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to be her running mate in January’s presidential election.
“A few months ago, Chen joined a meeting of our think tank, during which I thanked him for helping out and told him I might need his assistance in the future. He was unaware of my hidden message then, but his name was put on a not-so-long list in my pocket,” Tsai told a news conference at the DPP headquarters in Taipei. “And today, I am here to welcome him to become my running mate and a member of my team.”
Tsai said that like most Taiwanese, she was most impressed by Chen’s willingness to take up a challenging mission, as well as his steady and calm leadership, during the SARS outbreak in 2003.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Describing Chen as a devout Catholic who is prudent, extroverted, trustworthy and an expert communicator, Tsai said many political analysts have praised him as conducive to her campaign.
“However, that is not the point. The point is that I genuinely believe Chen will be a beneficial choice to the nation as a whole,” she said.
In a speech filled with religious reflections, Chen said that when Tsai approached him about serving as her running mate, he was reluctant to give up his academic research and studies, which have been his lifelong pursuit.
“My wife and daughter then prayed for me. They felt God’s calling that I must become the light of the world and the salt of the earth, burning myself like a small candle to give light to Taiwan or making myself like a pinch of salt to add flavors to people’s lives,” Chen said.
Quoting Pope Francis, Chen said real power is service and that a good shepherd wears the smell of his flock, adding that the pontiff also encourages Catholics to enter politics so that they can bring change and attend to the needs of the impoverished and the disadvantaged.
“While [former Academia Sinica] president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) is reluctant to see me embroiled in the whirlpool of political struggle ... he is convinced that Tsai’s campaign policies are the most practical, feasible and favorable to Taiwan’s future,” Chen said.
Asked whether he now plans to join the DPP, Chen said he has yet to consider it, but he has cooperated with Tsai’s team for a long time.
Academia Sinica issued a statement earlier in the day announcing Chen’s resignation. It voiced regret at losing him, but extended its best wishes.
Born in 1951, Chen holds a doctoral degree in epidemiology and human genetics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a master’s in public health from National Taiwan University. He began conducting research on hepatitis B when he was a teaching assistant at the Taipei school and later became a key proponent of across-the-board vaccination against hepatitis B, which is endemic in Taiwan.
The 64-year-old is also an expert on arsenic poisoning.
Since the late 1950s, a mysterious illness dubbed “blackfoot disease” has afflicted people in many areas along Taiwan’s southwestern coast. Chen and his research team discovered a link between the consumption of water with high levels of arsenic and increased risks of cancer and hardening of the arteries.
They also found that people drinking arsenic-laced water from deep wells suffered a higher death rate from bladder, lung, liver, kidney and skin cancers than those consuming water from shallow wells.
Chen played a leadership role in the Department of Health during the SARS outbreak, which killed 73 people and afflicted 346 nationwide.
He later worked to help establish a national infectious disease monitoring system and amend the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) to improve the nation’s epidemic prevention and control capabilities.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
RSS