Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said he would consider visiting former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) if he is sent to a hospital in Taipei for treatment, after Taoyuan General Hospital suggested that Chen should be transferred to a major medical center for further check-ups.
Hau, who has expressed support for granting Chen medical parole, said yesterday that his stance on the issue had not changed, adding that a medical team should assess Chen’s condition.
In a question-and-answer session at the Taipei City Council yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors applauded Hau for his support on the issue and called on the mayor to provide security for the former president if he is sent to a medical center in Taipei.
Photo: Hsiang Cheng-chen, Taipei Times
“Of course I will consider [visiting Chen if he is sent to a Taipei medical center]. It’s not my authority to decide whether Chen should receive medical treatment in Taipei, but if he is sent to a hospital in this city, I believe related agencies and the hospital would take care of his safety,” he said in response to a question from DPP Taipei City Councilor Tung Chung-yen (童仲彥).
DPP Taipei City councilors Wang Shih-chien (王世堅), Chuang Rui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘), among others, thanked Hau and said his proposal would help improve relations between the pan-blue and pan-green camps.
However, New Party Taipei City Councilor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) questioned Hau’s motives, alleging that the mayor had made the proposal for political gain, while acknowledging that Hau’s endorsement of Chen’s medical parole would boost his support.
“You are one of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] potential 2016 presidential candidates, and your next step after stepping down in 2014 is under great scrutiny. We all know that the endorsement will certainly make you popular among pan-green supporters,” she said.
Hau said his endorsement of Chen’s medical parole had nothing to do with the 2016 presidential elections.
Separately yesterday, human rights activists Hans Wahl and Harreld Dinkins visited Minster of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) at the -ministry, accompanied by DPP legislators Mark Chen (陳唐山) and Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財), as well as Taiwan Solidarity Union legislators Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) and Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉).
Jack Healey, director of the Washington-based Human Rights Action Center, who was scheduled to lead the group of visitors, said in a press statement that he was unable to attend the visit because he had the flu.
Wahl and Dinkins, who visited the former president at Taoyuan General Hospital on Monday, held a closed-door meeting with Tseng.
According to the ministry, the two human rights activists met Tseng to learn about the state of Chen Shui-bian’s health and the conditions of his imprisonment.
Meanwhile, Taoyuan General Hospital yesterday said it had arranged for Chen Shui-bian to undergo a neck ultrasound test and an eye exam.
On Friday, the hospital had found a 4mm-by-4mm trace of cerebral vascular trauma in his right frontal lobe, possibly indicating the former president had a minor stroke.
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who is a former Chang Guan Memorial Hospital doctor and who also visited the former president at the hospital, said during a political talk show on TV on Monday evening that there was not one, but seven or eight instances of cerebral vascular trauma, in Chen Shui-bian’s frontal lobe
Chen Shui-bian, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption, was sent to Taoyuan General Hospital last Wednesday night after complaining of pain when urinating and was admitted for extensive examinations.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal