HEALTH
Acupuncture aids rehab
Acupuncture stimulation could help blood circulation in patients who have suffered strokes, a recent study conducted by a team of local doctors showed. The study, published in last month’s edition of Microvascular Research, documented the therapeutic effects of acupuncture on 18 patients who had suffered strokes, Taipei City Hospital said. The patients, all in the rehabilitation stage, received acupuncture in certain areas associated with improved blood flow and were later tested for changes, said Chen Chao-tsung (陳朝宗), director of traditional medicine at the hospital. The results showed that acupuncture can decrease blood flow resistance and increase microcirculatory blood flow, a situation that is deemed helpful for the recovery of stroke patients, he said. “The main contribution made by this research was its evaluation of acupuncture therapy in a scientific way,” Chen said. The next step would be to come up with more scientific evidence to explain how acupuncture stimulation can be used to supplement Western treatments for strokes, he said.
POLITICS
DPP couple marries
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) yesterday married her long-time boyfriend, Greater Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te (李永得), in a long-expected and low-profile civil ceremony. Chiu, 39, met Lee, 55, when the two served as vice minister and minister, respectively, at the Council for Hakka Affairs. “Lee wanted us to marry while I am still in my 30s,” Chiu told reporters. Lee added he would “do my best to have at least three children,” although Chiu said that she would first focus on her re-election campaign. The ceremony, held at a public office in Greater Kaohsiung, was attended by Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), while DPP lawmakers in the legislature wished the couple all the best.
DIPLOMACY
Wang delivers donation
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) handed over a disaster relief donation of ￥1 billion (US$12 million) to Japan yesterday in Tokyo on behalf of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Wang said Japan had made a great contribution to the relief work in Taiwan after a deadly earthquake in 1999 and again after Typhoon Morakot in 2009. Taiwan will never forget Japan’s kindness, said Wang, who is leading a delegation on a visit to Japan. Adding that Japan’s tourism industry has been affected by the nuclear crisis that developed there after a devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, Wang said he would lead another delegation to Hokkaido to show his support for the country. Taiwan held a TV fundraiser on March 18, raising ￥2.1 billion within four hours. To date, Taiwan has donated a total of ￥14.4 billion to the disaster relief efforts in Japan.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Hu offers Lien delegates
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) will send delegates to a memorial service for former vice president Lien Chan’s (連戰) mother, Chao Lan-kun (趙蘭坤), who passed away on Sunday at the age of 103, Lien’s spokesman Ting Yuan-chao (丁遠超) said. Ting said that upon learning of Chao’s death, Hu extended condolences to Lien and offered to send a delegation to Taiwan, an offer Lien politely declined. However, Hu said he wanted to express his sympathy by sending “one or two non-official delegates” to the funeral on Thursday next week, so Lien agreed, Ting said. The memorial service for Chao will be held at the Taipei Wesley Methodist Church, Ting added.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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