The legislature yesterday passed a resolution to abolish the Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China (中華民國紅十字會法).
After much hubbub following the New Power Party (NPP) caucus’ proposal to abolish the act in March, the legislature, with the support of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the NPP caucuses, made a final decision on the motion yesterday evening.
Toward the end of yesterday’s floor meeting, the NPP caucus proposed and, with the DPP caucus’ support, passed an extension of the meeting to get to the motion calling for the abolition of the act.
The resolution received 45 votes of support out of a total of 54 votes cast, with the remainder all cast by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers against the abolition.
Various KMT lawmakers took turns to speak on the podium in front of the general assembly before the vote.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) accused the DPP of launching a “political vendetta” after taking power on May 20, which he said extended “even to a social welfare group that has been labeled a subsidiary of the KMT.”
He accused the DPP and the NPP of carrying out an “extermination” plan against the Red Cross for political gain based on the mentality of the independence-unification divide.
“They want to establish a Taiwan Red Cross Society and get rid of the Republic of China’s,” Lai said.
KMT legislators Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), Lin Te-fu (林德福), Arthur Chen (陳宜民) and Alicia Wang (王育敏) all said there was no need to abolish the act, as amendments would suffice to rid the Red Cross society of its controversial aspects.
DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said the aim was to abolish the Red Cross’ “privileged special act.”
“Stop saying that the abolition of the act is to exterminate the society, as the group can continue to exist in accordance with the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法) and the Charity Donations Act (公益勸募條例),” Wu said.
NPP Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said abolition was the first step toward helping the Red Cross “get back on the right track.”
The legislature yesterday also passed an overhaul of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), one amendment of which DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said gave it “teeth.”
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said four major areas of reform would prohibit the intentional damaging of heritage sites.
“The first is ‘cultural equality,’ which means that all people have the right to initiate a review process to determine the status of a supposed heritage site,” Kuan said. “The second is that, if a government agency fails to manage a heritage site it is responsible for managing, it can be transferred to another agency at zero cost.”
“The third is to guarantee that any supposed heritage site, once a review process has been initiated, would be protected as historical site,” Kuan said.
“The fourth is an absolute guarantee of punishment if one damages a historical site. The minimum jail sentence would be six months,” she added.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant