Australia on Sunday thanked Taiwan for providing quality medical care to more than 10 international refugees who were in urgent need of medical attention or suffering from serious illnesses at its offshore immigration detention center in Nauru.
The Australian Office Taipei issued a statement saying that all the refugees had agreed to be treated in Taiwan and to return to Nauru once they have been discharged from hospital.
Taiwan has won global praise for its quality medical care and contributions to the international community in the area of health and medical care, the statement said.
Taiwan has been doing this under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Australia in September last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in Taipei.
Taiwan Adventist Hospital in January began to help bring in refugees and asylum seekers from the center in Nauru who needed, but could not obtain, urgent medical care, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said.
Australia is responsible for footing the transportation and medical bills for the refugees, the MOU says.
The Australian government has an offshore immigration detention facility in Nauru that houses asylum seekers from Iran, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and other countries.
Taiwan and Nauru have a fruitful longstanding medical cooperation relationship and that as an active and contributory member of the international community, Taiwan is willing to work with other nations to improve the health of all people, Lee said.
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
RSS