An 80-year-old man, Liu Po-yan (劉柏煙), who sustained second and third degree burns over more than 80 percent of his body on Tuesday after setting himself on fire in a protest at Liberty Square was still in critical condition in National Taiwan University Hospital’s intensive care unit yesterday, hospital officials said.
“Liu has gone through a series of debridement surgeries, one of which occurred [yesterday],” the hospital told the Taipei Times.
The hospital said that there was no word on when Liu’s life would be out of danger, adding that skin transplant surgery would be scheduled soon.
Liu on Tuesday staged the demonstration by pouring gasoline and burning himself in protest at the government’s affront to national dignity during the visit last week by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
In a suicide note, Liu claimed that he had been a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for some 30 years and expressed dismay toward the government’s handling of Chen’s visit.
“I saw pedestrians walking on the street holding the national flag and getting arrested by the police, who even broke the flag pole. I saw many police officers beating people without consequences. I hear that sixteen ordinary people have been arrested and will be indicted. If so, are the thousands of police who hit people going to be given citations of merit?” the note said.
“When Chen [Yunlin] met the president, he pointed at the president and said, ‘you, you, you.’ I see that the president smiled and was very happy … If China sends an even higher ranking official, would the president kneel to receive him?” the note said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
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