The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday blasted New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), saying that the mayor’s inaction over the “En En case” was a move to shield New Taipei City Department of Health Director Chen Jun-chiu (陳潤秋).
The controversy is over the April 19 death of a two-year-old boy known as “En En” (恩恩). The child’s father said that the “119” hotline allegedly took too long — 81 minutes — to respond to his call for help.
It was the nation’s first death of a child resulting from COVID-19.
In a statement earlier yesterday, Hou said he felt the pain of En En’s parents, and that he would reflect on the incident and accept full responsibility.
DPP caucus secretary-general Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) said in a news release that the city’s Department of Health had on June 10 said it was “unable to provide a voice recording” of the call.
Chen Ou-po called Chen Jun-chiu’s response a cover-up, saying that Hou’s statement yesterday of “taking responsibility” was equally meaningless as he had not even apologized for the incident.
Hou’s response is not as humble as it seems given the information that has come to light, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said, adding that since En En’s death, Hou’s image has been that of the cold, formulaic bureaucrat, citing judicial prosecution and demonstrating a total lack of empathy.
“Hou’s comments today still lack the one thing the child’s parents and the public wish to hear: an apology,” Lo said.
Hou is not protecting the hotline operators, but Chen Jun-chiu, a favored civil servant who has yet to face the issue, Lo added.
DPP Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵), deputy secretary-general of the caucus, said online polls had found that 66 percent of respondents felt Hou should take responsibility for the entire incident, while 6.3 percent said the city’s health department should and 0.2 percent said the New Taipei City Fire Department should.
Hou and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have kept politicizing the incident, Lin said.
“The incident has never been about politics, but about a person’s life,” she added.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS