The Legislative Yuan should consider abolishing the Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China (中華民國紅十字會法) to clarify the Taiwan Red Cross’ relationship with the government, New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said yesterday.
The establishment law of the organization — which said it uses “Taiwan Red Cross” for international purposes, although “Red Cross Society of the Republic of China” is its official name — was passed in 1954. It forbids any other organization from using the international Red Cross symbol, and decrees that the heads of several executive agencies are automatically appointed to its governing and supervisory boards.
“I think now is a great opportunity to abolish the Red Cross Society Act to normalize the organization,” Hsu said, adding that the organization takes responsibility for many government-like functions, while remaining largely unregulated within its “kingdom” of special privileges.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“While I am sure that they do good work, would that somehow stop if the law is abolished? The [Buddhist Compassion Relief] Tzu Chi Foundation also does a lot, but they do not have special laws,” he said, referring to one of the nation’s largest charitable organizations.
The Taiwan Red Cross in recent years has been mired in a series of controversies, including criticism that it overpays executives and was too slow in sending donated funds to Japan following the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Taiwan Red Cross president Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) published a half-page front-page advertisement in the Chinese-language United Daily Evening News at her own expense last week to defend the preservation of the organization’s law.
Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), a lawyer, said the law unfairly grants the Taiwan Red Cross special status relative to other organizations, citing special commemorative stamps which the organization was previously allowed to sell in schools.
Special privileges also include exemptions from most government regulations, including requirements that government ministries approve calls for donations and the organization’s yearly spending plans, Huang said.
“As the nation has a special law and the government backs the organization, making it easier for [the Red Cross] to solicit donations, in theory, it should be subject to more rigorous supervision than ordinary organizations, but in practice, the opposite is true,” he said.
Taiwan Red Cross spokeswoman Lisa Hsu (徐孝慈) said the organization’s establishment law should not be abolished, because it highlights the organization’s claim to international recognition.
While the Taiwan Red Cross is not an official member of the International Federation of the Red Cross, official member organizations in many nations have establishment laws or executive decrees, she said.
“Under current law, our only special privilege is the right to call for emergency donations,” she said, adding that the organization last year had sought the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s approval prior to calling for donations to help Syrian refugees. However, the ministry refused to process their application on grounds that the Red Cross is not required to apply for government approval before issuing donation requests, Lisa Hsu said.
The Red Cross Society Act states the organization can issue calls for donations after gaining approval from its board of directors and supervisors.
The Taiwan Red Cross agrees that its establishment law should be revised, but there is no internal consensus on what should be changed, including whether it should retain its privilege to call for emergency donations without government approval, Lisa Hsu said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —