Members of the state's highest watchdog, the Control Yuan, are launching an investigation into whether the Hualien County commissioner, who was in Taipei while Typhoon Toraji ravaged Taiwan, neglected his duty as the typhoon bore down on Hualien making it the hardest-hit county.
"We are voluntarily initiating the investigation because we have learnt from media coverage that the commissioner, Wang Ching-feng (
At press time last night, local media reported that the typhoon had claimed at least 24 lives in the county, while 37 people were still missing.
The commissioner, a KMT member, was in Taipei for the party's 16th national congress when the typhoon swept through Hualien County during the weekend. The Central Weather Bureau issued a typhoon warning on Saturday morning. The same afternoon Wang left Hualien for Taipei, and did not return until Monday afternoon.
Wang has said that he intended to go back to his constituency on Sunday afternoon but air and rail services had been cancelled.
Under the Disaster Prevention and Relief Act, the county commissioner or his appointed deputy must decide, in the event of a potential disaster, whether to set up a county-level ad hoc disaster contingency center, which the commissioner or his appointed deputy must head.
Such a center was set up in Hualien but the decision-making process behind its establishment and management and the extent to which it was staffed during the crisis will form the focus of the investigation.
"First of all, we need to know whether Commissioner Wang had requested leave and appointed the secretary general [of the county government] as his deputy [to head the disaster contingency efforts] as he has claimed," Lin said.
Second, Lin said, they would investigate whether the deputy, if appointed, had carried out his duties.
The media have reported that from Sunday night through Monday morning -- when the typhoon was causing its most serious damage in the county -- the county's disaster contingency center was empty but for an army lieutenant.
"So we need to know where those officials [who were supposed to meet at the center] had gone, and why," Lin said.
But one of Wang's secretaries said disaster relief efforts had not been delayed.
"The fact that the officials were not in the center did not mean they weren't working," he said.
He said the county government's secretary general, Chung Wen-chin (
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS