Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Hypocrisy around radioactivity

Huang Wei-ping 黃惟冰

Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) wrote a post on his Facebook page on Saturday, in which he said that trace quantities of radioactive elements are actually good for one’s health.

He gave as examples the hot springs in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) and the Tamagawa hot spring in Japan’s Akita Prefecture, which are the only places on Earth known to have a special kind of rock called hokutolite. Hokutolite, which is named after the Japanese pronunciation of the name “Beitou,” contains traces of radium, and Hsieh said that research shows this rock to be beneficial for one’s health.

Interestingly, some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians had a knee-jerk reaction to Hsieh’s post about the quality of these hot springs.

Minister touts the WHO’s approval of Medigen vaccine

Taipei Times

The WHO’s addition of Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp’s (高端疫苗) COVID-19 vaccine to its pool marks the first time the world body has authorized a Taiwan-made vaccine and it is an endorsement of the country’s vaccine industry, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said yesterday.

Medigen on Tuesday announced an out-licensing agreement with the WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool, which makes its vaccine technology available to people in need worldwide.

US’ divided bipartisan commitment

Albert Wang 王律棋

Like West Berlin in the 20th century, Taiwan is standing on the front line of a hegemonic battle between the leader of the free world and a rising authoritarian superpower. Washington has pursued a policy of “strategic ambiguity” in the past few decades, but now it must shift toward “strategic clarity” due to political realities.

The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) suggests that any military threat to Taiwan should be of critical concern to the US. Yet incidents of Chinese military aircraft crossing into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone have become so common that it has been normalized for Taiwanese. This indifference to the threat should signal an alarm for the US.

Ministry to promote UN bid in the US

Taipei Times

The government is to hold a series of events on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next month while calling on the global body to stop the misinterpretation of Resolution 2758 and allow Taiwan’s meaningful participation in its system, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

Taiwan is stepping up its efforts to promote the nation’s bid to join the UN leading up to the 78th session of the General Assembly on Tuesday next week and the General Debate from Sept. 19 to Sept. 26.

Due to a misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758 Taiwan has been inappropriately excluded from the UN, which should be rectified, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday.

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