Legislators from across party lines yesterday lambasted the central government for its inadequate response to Wednesday’s crash of TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 in Taipei, saying that it did not take control of emergency operations from local governments until three days after the accident occurred.
The Disaster Prevention and Rescue Law (災害防救法) stipulates that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is the designated authority in charge of rescue operations in an aviation accident, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said, adding that Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Chien-yu (陳建宇) failed to immediately set up an emergency command center to facilitate rescue operations.
DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said that the central government established the National Rescue Command Center following the Pachang Creek Incident (八掌溪事件) in 2008 — in which four workers were swept away by a flash flood after waiting to be rescued in the middle of the creek for more than two hours — to immediately respond to air crashes or marine accidents.
However, Wednesday’s crash demonstrated that central government officials are incapable of any action other than offering condolences to the families of victims, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正) said that the central government should have played a more active role in the emergency operations, adding that the government’s ineffectiveness was particularly curious, seeing as Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) previously served as transportation minister from 2008 to 2013.
However, Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) rejected the allegation that the central government was not doing its best, saying that the army and coast guard had been dispatched to join rescue operations from day one, and that the central government had established an emergency response center at the same time as Taipei and New Taipei City, with the Chen coordinating operations from the center and Vice Premier Simon Chang (張善政) at the crash site.
Mao asked Minister of National Defense Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) to commit army troops to the crash site and asked the transportation ministry, the Mainland Affairs Council and the Straits Exchange Foundation to contact the families of passengers immediately after the crash, Sun said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS