Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday agreed to stay at Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) for further examination and treatment, but a confidant said Chen was forced to do so by Taipei Prison authorities.
Chen, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption and has been in the hospital since Sept. 21 for treatment of various complications, announced his agreement in a press release issued by his office yesterday afternoon.
The imprisoned former president had refused to be treated at the hospital, but said yesterday the doctor-patient relationship between him and the hospital, designated by Taipei Prison, has improved.
A previous request by Chen and his family for him to be treated at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital in Kaohsiung or Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei was rejected by Taipei Prison.
Former Northern Taiwan Society director Janice Chen (陳昭姿) said yesterday that Chen Shui-bian was forced to make the reluctant decision after being given only two options by the prison — returning to Taipei Prison or staying at TVGH.
The prison also asked the former president to announce his decision and describe his stay at TVGH by means of a press release, according to Janice Chen.
Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), the former president’s son, wrote on his Facebook page yesterday that the request to transfer to another hospital had been rejected and his father had no choice but to stay.
“I wonder why a patient could not have a say about what he is most comfortable with and choose where he wants to be treated. Was there any political consideration in this?” he wrote.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we