A press conference at the legislature yesterday on behalf of bakeries that have suffered losses in the wake of the melamine food scare turned into a clash between blue and green lawmakers, ending with the health minister checking into a hospital.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers accused each other of grabbing Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川), minister of the Department of Health, by the neck and throttling him.
KMT Legislator Chang Shuo-wen (張碩文), who was with Yeh when the scuffle erupted, said DPP lawmakers tried to prevent Yeh from leaving the legislative floor after a meeting with bakery owners and lawmakers over the government’s response to the public health scare caused by melamine-contaminated food imported from China.
PHOTO: CNA
Chang accused DPP caucus whip Pan Men-an (潘孟安) and DPP Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) of starting the scuffle.
“I went up there to protect Yeh. Although I didn’t see anyone throwing a punch, I was sorry about the chaos and felt uncomfortable because DPP lawmakers were also pulling at my tie,” Chang said.
BREATHING PROBLEM
“We condemn the DPP ... Someone grabbed the minister by the neck and he could hardly breathe,” he said.
KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) also demanded that DPP lawmakers apologize for intruding into the press conference hosted by KMT lawmakers.
The DPP caucus denied its lawmakers grabbed Yeh by the neck.
Pan said he was just trying to ask Yeh why he declined to attend the caucus’ meeting yesterday morning to give a briefing on the melamine controversy.
Pan said that Lin’s wife, Peng Ai-chia (彭愛佳), a reporter with China Television Co, was to blame for the clash because she began yelling: “Why hit people? How could you hit people?”
“I didn’t hit anybody. KMT Legislator Chang Sho-wen put his hands on Yeh’s neck and DOH official Luo Mu-tsai (羅木才) grabbed Yeh’s hands,” Pan said.
Yeh, who assumed the post of health minister, was suffering from dizziness, cardiopalmus and high blood pressure when he arrived at the National Taiwan University Hospital, hospital spokesman Tan Ching-Ting (譚慶鼎) said, adding that Yeh’s blood pressure rose to 160/100mmHg.
Doctors recommended that Yeh stay in the hospital for further observation, Tan said.
“We condemn any form of violence. The public would not want to see this kind of behavior in the legislature,” Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) told reporters after visiting Yeh at the hospital.
The Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) staged a protest outside the legislature yesterday afternoon, accusing the lawmakers of behaving inappropriately.
CCW executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said that some lawmakers “have used vulgar language in questioning officials” earlier and “even engaged in a physical clash” yesterday.
He said this type of behavior reflects badly on the legislature and shows that the “legislature still has a long way to go before becoming ‘civilized.’”
Ho said he believed those who clashed yesterday “have their reasons for doing so, but whatever those reasons may be, differences in opinion should be resolved through talk and debate, not violence.”
“No one benefits from violence — the lawmakers wouldn’t get the conflict settled and the public wouldn’t know what they were fighting over either,” he said.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday that Yeh had repeatedly ignored the caucus’ invitation to brief them on the food contamination scandal.
“We invited him sometime last week, but he never replied or visited us although he came to the legislature several times,” Ker said. “He is way too arrogant.”
Yeh was sworn in as health minister after Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁) resigned to take responsibility for the government’s inconsistent response to the crisis over melamine-spiked dairy products from China.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG, LOA IOK-SIN AND SHELLEY HUANG
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS