The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday demanded that CPC Corp chairman Derek Chen (陳金德) and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) officials step down to take responsibility for Tuesday’s blackouts that affected 6.68 million homes and offices nationwide.
The caucus also demanded that Premier Lin Chuan (林全) brief lawmakers about the government’s energy policy and how it plans to ensure steady power supply, or resign.
The power failure is the most severe since 1999, affecting not just households, but also companies in the Jhunan Science Park and Tai Yuen Hi-Tech Industrial Park in Hsinchu County, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) told a news conference at the legislature.
Photo: Cheng Hung-ta, Taipei Times
The KMT is being “nice” to Lin Chuan by offering him a chance to make a presentation instead of asking him to step down, Lin Wei-chou said.
The KMT respects the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) stance against nuclear energy, but the DPP administration should propose accompanying measures to assure the public that would be no power cuts, outages and rationing before 2025, when the DPP expects to attain its goal of a “nuclear-free homeland,” he said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) was a scapegoat for Tuesday’s technical error that caused the Datan Natural Gas Power Plant to temporarily go offline, KMT caucus vice secretary-general Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) said, demanding that Chen resign.
“Chen said that he would take full responsibility for the power failure, but all he has done is order that an investigation be launched, which shows that he is clinging on to his post,” Wang said.
She accused DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) of naming his secretary as the chief director at Lee’s office, where several other DPP lawmakers have also embedded their secretaries to influence the ministry’s policies, making Lee the DPP’s “puppet.”
“No wonder the nation’s economic policies have faltered. No wonder the power supply was hindered,” she said.
Wang said the public suffered losses of at least NT$2 billion (US$65.9 million), urging President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to offer compensation to people affected by the power outages.
KMT Legislator John Wu (吳志揚) echoed Wang’s remarks, calling on the government to allow food stalls, technology firms and people injured due to failing traffic signals to apply for compensation.
Tuesday’s incident was allegedly caused by human error, which shows that the nation’s power supply network is so vulnerable that it has become a national security issue, Wu said.
“Apologizing will not stop entrepreneurs from leaving Taiwan after yesterday’s [Tuesday’s] incident, nor will it solve problems faced by ordinary users,” KMT vice secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said.
Tsai and Lin Chuan should explain the nation’s energy policy before proposed budgets for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program are reviewed in the extraordinary session, she said.
“Without safe and steady power supply, there cannot be a forward-looking program, since the program includes many projects to build rail systems and develop innovative sectors,” she said.
Meanwhile, members of the New Party rallied in front of the legislature, demanding that Lin Chuan step down over the outages.
Lin Chuan said in an interview on Friday last week that Taipower can “forget about” its plans to resume work on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) and delay the decommissioning of the Jinshan, Guosheng and Maanshan nuclear power plants, New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) said.
The president on Tuesday offered an apology on Facebook, blaming the outages on “vulnerable” power grids and pledged to establish independent power plants that supply “green” energy.
However, both Lin Chuan’s and Tsai’s remarks evaded the problem of insufficient energy reserves, which was the core issue with the nation’s energy supply and the main reason behind Tuesday’s blackout, Wang said.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
RSS