Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) yesterday said he would not sing in public for a while, as his mood for singing has been affected by a controversial video of him that circulated online earlier this month.
Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), made the remark at a Taiwan Association of University Professors’ Thanksgiving fundraiser in Taipei yesterday.
The clip, which began circulating on Nov. 10, shows him singing indoors without a mask, which led to accusations that he had contravened COVID-19 prevention rules during a nationwide level 3 pandemic alert.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
However, as the video was recorded on June 15 last year, when Taiwan did not have many domestic COVID-19 cases, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Nov. 12 said that it was part of a Chinese disinformation campaign to demoralize the nation and discredit the CECC.
At yesterday’s event, Chen refused the host’s invitation to sing with him, saying that he had not felt like singing in public since the controversy.
It reminded him that he should work harder and focus on his duties, he said.
“I was confident that I was a good singer because everyone applauded, but after seeing the video on TV, I found out that I don’t have the moves, nor did I sing very well,” he said.
Maybe the people only applauded because he is the health minister, Chen said.
When he was in elementary school, he used to sing songs with a friend, but when asking the friend about his singing, the friend said that all the songs he sang sounded the same, Chen said.
“His reply was a heavy blow to me,” Chen joked. “After that day, I didn’t dare to sing in public for a long time.”
He still sometimes sings in the bathroom, but his wife has told him that his tempo and pitch are slightly off, he said.
After she offered him singing lessons, he also lost interest in singing at home, he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique