The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and Aviation Safety Council (ASC) appear to disagree on whether a single national transportation safety and investigation council should be formed, lawmakers said yesterday as they questioned Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) over apparent backtracking on the issue.
Officials from the two agencies attended a Transportation Committee meeting at the Legislative Yuan, in which they briefed lawmakers on whether they think one independent agency should investigate all transportation incidents.
The ASC investigates aviation incidents, while the ministry probes accidents or incidents on railways, freeways and waterways.
ASC Chairman Hwung Hwung-hweng (黃煌煇) said that establishing an independent investigation council is necessary.
However, the Institute of Transportation — the ministry’s think tank — said that the government would aim to reinforce the independence and professionalism of all existing agencies charged with investigating transportation-related incidents before forming a single agency for the task.
The ASC and the ministry appear to differ on the matter, lawmakers said.
The ministry does not oppose the establishment of a national agency, Hochen said, adding that it should be a long-term goal.
Similar organizations in other nations do not handle all types of investigation, Hochen said, using the example of the US National Transportation Safety Board, which handles mainly aviation and certain types of highway, marine and railway accidents.
Based on a plan proposed by the ASC, the proposed council would have between seven and 11 commissioners, and 50 personnel.
It would be practically impossible for such an agency to investigate all types of transportation incidents, Hochen said.
“It is easy to create an agency, but the most important thing is outlining how the agency would function and what types of accidents it would investigate. It would take at least six months to study the matter,” he said, adding that it would take another two to three years to form such an agency.
Transportation Committee members disagreed.
The number of aviation accidents has greatly fallen following the formation of the ASC, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said.
Lee asked if Hochen had reversed his position on establishing an independent safety council, since he and former premier Lin Chuan (林全) last year promised that they would do so.
The validity of the ministry’s investigations into railway and marine accidents are questionable because it is essentially the referee and player, DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) said.
There have been cases of retired Civil Aeronautics Administration officials becoming ASC chairpeople or investigators, Chen said, adding that people would be skeptical of investigation results if they are conducted by the same group of people.
However, an independent agency would ensure the transparency of investigations and results, DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
The ASC always makes investigations of aviation incidents public, but the ministry has never done so for railway accident investigations, Lin said.
Major freeway accidents that involve casualties are often investigated by prosecutors, who are not necessarily transportation experts, New Power Party Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) said.
The Executive Yuan has planned to establish an independent investigative body since 2003, Hung said, questioning if and when such plans would be materialized.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we