Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu announced Tuesday the launch of a movement to promote "a new life of Taiwan that will build the country into a new paradise."
In a statement at the Lungshan Temple in the Wanhua district of Taipei City, Lu called on the people of Taiwan to see the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) as a turning point for improving the quality of their lives.
She urged the general public to cooperate with the government in the battle against the potentially deadly disease, not to worry about it, to be confident in the government and to have mercy on SARS patients.
She also called on the public to work together to boost morale through reviewing the value of life, improving their living conditions, establishing a new ecological concept of co-existence and reforming production processes.
The vice president said that she chose Wanhua to launch the movement because it is the area that has been hardest-hit by SARS and has a legacy of being transition position in the cultural, economic and social development of Taiwan.