Environmental activists and dozens of Greater Kaohsiung residents yesterday rallied outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei to protest against Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) remarks on Monday on the government’s plans to address the damage caused by the Greater Kaohsiung gas pipeline explosions and demanding that the premier and Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) step down.
Citizen of the Earth executive director Lee Ken-cheng (李根政) told a press conference that the central government’s attitude toward people affected by the blasts shows that it has not reflected upon the mistakes caused by its flawed policies covering the petrochemical industry dating back to more than half a century ago.
Those failed policies were a major contributor to the accident, he said.
Photo: CNA
“The central government installed the underground pipelines. It has remained their governing authority throughout all these years, but when an accident happens, it shirks all its responsibilities,” he said.
The premier on Monday said there was no need for a special provision bill, financial assistance through a special budget allocation and a dedicated agency to administrate post-disaster relief and reconstruction for Kaohsiung.
On Tuesday he reiterated his opposition in response to requests for special action by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, and said that the government would establish a 10-member panel of pipeline specialists and establish a national pipeline database instead.
“We are here to tell Jiang Yi-huah and Chang Chia-juch: Since you don’t want any responsibilities, we do not want you to take any, either. We want you to step down,” Lee said.
The group also demanded that the Executive Yuan allocate funds for Kaohsiung relief efforts and provide a credible timetable for its pledge to map the nation’s underground pipeline network.
However, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) told reporters yesterday that he had told DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and other DPP legislators who had hoped to negotiate with Jiang about post-disaster plans that the central government would allocate funds to cover the city’s compensation and reconstruction costs.
Wang said that Jiang had told him that the impact of the pipeline explosions was as massive as the 921 Earthquake or Typhoon Morakot, so a special budget might not be necessary.
“The premier said the government would draw on its disaster reserve fund, secondary reserve fund for emergency purposes and general budget to fund the relief work,” Wang said.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said the Executive Yuan declined the DPP legislators’ requests to draft a special provision bill and set up a dedicated agency to monitor relief work because it believes existing laws and regulations are sufficient.
While the Executive Yuan plans to put together a panel of specialists to tackle pipeline-related issues and set up a database for pipeline networks, it would leave the decision of whether to archive and manage the pipelines to the panel, he said.
Meanwhile, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) reportedly told yesterday’s Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting that the disaster reserve fund allocated to Greater Kaohsiung this year totals about NT$1.94 billion (US$64.6 million), of which NT$190 million has been spent, leaving about NT$1.7 billion.
When reached for comment, Ker confirmed that Kaohsiung has a total of NT$1.7 billion in disaster reserve funds left, which will be used after plans are worked out by the city’s Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
In related developments, National Sun Yat-sen University professor Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) accused the central government of having no compassion.
Greater Kaohsiung is an important city in terms of the nation’s economic development, and the central government is responsible for helping the public, Cheng said.
It should not attempt to evade its responsibility by saying it would not set up special laws, Cheng said.
The university is in Greater Kaohsiung.
Additional reporting by Chen Hui-ping and Jack Chung
‘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 High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS