Supporters of imprisoned former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday submitted a petition to the Legislative Yuan calling for the physically and emotionally exhausted Chen to be immediately released from Taipei Prison, where he is serving a 17-and-a-half-year term on corruption charges.
“It doesn’t take a physician to understand that Chen is unhealthy if you’re able to meet him face-to-face,” Taipei Veterans General Hospital physician Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典), who is part of a six-member task force comprised of physicians and rights advocates monitoring Chen’s health, told a press conference held outside the legislature.
The task force, which includes National Taiwan University physician Ko Wen-che (柯文哲) and former Northern Taiwan Society director Janice Chen (陳昭姿), has visited Chen three times for preliminary examinations.
Two symptoms — gastroesophageal reflux and a pulmonary embolism, a blockage of the main artery of the lung — are among the 13 conditions the task force found which they listed as being of serious concern, Kuo said.
Chen’s character also appears to be flagging, given that everything he does in his cell is monitored by 24-hour surveillance cameras, he said.
This explains why Chen would pledge to leave prison alive on the one hand and would then be contemplating suicide on the other, Kuo said.
The demonstration was held in front of the legislative body with about 200 people from various civic organizations taking part and holding placards and banners urging Chen be released for medical treatment.
Seeking better medical treatment would be nothing more than a reaffirmation of Taiwan’s support for freedom and human rights, Janice Chen said.
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
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
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,
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