Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will invite the premier and select lawmakers to discuss whether the president should declare a state of emergency to deal with the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot.
He said he would ask Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) and key caucus members to discuss disaster relief efforts.
“We will finalize a decision after everyone has a full understanding of the situation we are facing,” Wang said.
The Constitution authorizes the president to declare a state of emergency during major disasters or political or economic crises after the Cabinet reaches a resolution to support such a move. The legislature then has 10 days to confirm the announcement. A state of emergency was declared after the 921 Earthquake in 1999 and after flooding in central and southern Taiwan on Aug. 7, 1959.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday called on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to declare a state of emergency.
Caucus secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) told a press conference that the caucus might push for an extraordinary legislative session to discuss a special budget for reconstruction.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) said the DPP would support the KMT’s call for a state of emergency.
“We are willing to grant the government the utmost authority to save victims of the disaster and help them rebuild their homes and clean up after the flooding, including a state of emergency,” Wang Sing-nan said.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), however, reiterated that a state of emergency was not necessary because the Disaster Prevention and Response Act (災害防救法) clearly stipulates disaster relief efforts.
The Act was passed after the 921 Earthquake because the legislature realized emergency decrees should not be the normal response to a disaster and that disaster relief efforts must be legalized, he said.
Meanwhile, legislators across party lines urged Ma to show more compassion for flood victims in the wake of his widely reported comments to two disaster victims in Taitung on Monday. The visibly distraught pair had complained to Ma that his bodyguards had tried to stop them from telling him about their father, who was missing after the flooding.
Ma responded by saying: “I didn’t know you were looking for me” and “I have come, haven’t I?”
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) urged Ma and other officials to be more understanding when dealing with upset people trying to locate missing family members.
“If you are unable to have empathy for those who suffered in this disaster, your promise to feel the pain of the people was nothing but a lie,” DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS