Dismissing the Ministry of Justice’s statement that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will have an exclusive 243 ping (803m2) area in Taichung Prison’s Pei Teh Hospital, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday quoted Chen as saying that what he really needs is medical care.
“It means nothing even if the entire Taichung Prison was at my disposal, because what I desperately need is medical care,” Su quoted Chen as saying after visiting the former president.
Su quoted Chen as saying that he originally held high hopes for being granted medical parole or home-based convalescence given the diagnosis of his ailments at Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
Chen has been diagnosed with severe depression, sleep apnea, non-typical Parkinson’s disease, a speech disorder and mild cerebral atrophy.
The DPP said that as Pei Teh only had a support group of physicians from the Taichung Veterans General Hospital and the China Medical University Hospital, and lacked a professional medical team of its own, the choice of hospital could pose a problem for the former president.
It was incomprehensible that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had turned down an opportunity to facilitate social harmony and instead allowed the ministry to make a judgement that went against the professional medical opinion that Chen would be better looked after at home, Su said.
“The DPP will continue exploring substantial ways to assist the former president,” Su added.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs on Friday urged US President Barack Obama and the US Congress to express their “deepest concerns” about the latest developments concerning Chen.
The way the transfer was implemented flies in the face of norms and standards in a democratic country, the association said in a statement.
US Congressman Robert Andrews also wrote a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry saying the US “must clearly express itself in favor of a medical parole on humanitarian grounds.”
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
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Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
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