The activation of an emergency response system Friday night after the shootings of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) did not mean service personnel were unable to return to their hometowns to cast votes in Saturday's election, Deputy Minister of National Defense Lin Chong-pin (林中斌) said yesterday.
Lin spoke yesterday to the defense committee of the legislature, which he attended on behalf of Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明), who was receiving treatment for an eye disease at the Tri-Service General Hospital.
Rumors have been rife in the aftermath of the presidential election that the activation of the emergency response system was responsible for some 200,000 to 250,000 soldiers being unable to return home to vote.
Opposition legislators attacked Lin yesterday saying that the activation of the emergency response system was unnecessary given the lightness of the president and vice president's injuries, yet might have significantly influenced the election outcome.
Lin said that only 13,000 troops had been unable to vote, and that this was because they were on combat alert, a standard procedure on election days because of the threat from China.
Their status had nothing to do with the emergency response system, Lin said.
"These service members were unable to cast votes because of having to stay on duty to ensure a safe and steady environment for the presidential elections," Lin said.
"It had nothing to do with the activation of the emergency response system following the shootings of President Chen and Vice President Lu on Friday in Tainan," he said.
Lieutenant General Lei Kuang-tan (雷光旦), deputy chief of the general staff for operations, said at the meeting that these service members could have had a chance to cast votes but that because of a change in combat preparation rules last year, they were unable to execute their election rights during the presidential election.
In the past, service members could be granted a half-day's leave to cast their votes in an election, but these rules had been changed.
Tang's absence from the meeting sparked strong criticism from opposition lawmakers, who accused him of pretending to be sick to avoid the meeting.
Yesterday's meeting of the defense committee was about the situation in the Taiwan Strait and arms purchase plans after the presidential elections, on which Tang was invited to make a report.
But Tang failed to show up at the meeting because he has been admitted into the hospital for treatment of an eye disease.
Tang was accused by opposition lawmaker Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) of the People First Party of using eye diseases as a pretext for not attending the meeting.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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