The Presidential Office yesterday called on the military to thoroughly investigate and find those responsible for a cluster of at least 27 COVID-19 cases on a navy ship.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has ordered the Ministry of National Defense to undertake a complete internal investigation as soon as possible to determine whether there was negligence that contributed to the outbreak, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said.
The cluster infection occurred on the supply ship Panshih (磐石), which was part of a navy “Friendship Flotilla” that visited Palau from March 12 to 15 before returning to Kaohsiung’s Zuoying Naval Base on April 9.
Photo: Reuters / Ministry of National Defense
The crews of the vessels disembarked on Wednesday last week — 30 days after departing from the Pacific ally, in line with Central Epidemic Command Center guidelines.
A total of 744 officers, sailors and cadets were on Saturday last week recalled for testing and placed in 14-day centralized quarantine after the first case from the ship was confirmed earlier that day.
The center said that health authorities were conducting an investigation to determine whether the crew members contracted the disease locally or overseas.
The ministry should make public the results of its internal investigation to dispel the public’s doubts over the outbreak, Chang said, adding that it should take responsibility if it finds that negligence by military personnel contributed to the incident.
Chang made the comments after lawmakers across party lines raised concerns about speculation that the military had tried to conceal the outbreak.
On Monday, Deputy Minister of National Defense Chang Che-ping (張哲平) defended the decision to conduct the visit to Palau, saying that the goodwill trip was an important annual mission by the navy.
It was also crucial for the training of navy personnel and cadets, as well as to promote closer ties with Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, he said.
National Taiwan Normal University political science professor Fan Shih-ping (范世平) yesterday questioned on Facebook why the flotilla set out on March 5 — after the disease had been designated by the WHO as a public health emergency of international concern.
“Some have claimed that the military personnel were on a ‘special mission,’ but on board the Panshih were naval cadets who had little experience,” Fan said.
“How could they be aboard the ship if it was a special mission?” he asked.
The flotilla’s mission each year reportedly alternates between what are called “big” and “small” dunmu (敦睦) — the former consisting of visits to other nations and the latter voyages around Taiwan, he said.
This year, the mission was purportedly a “big dunmu,” Fan said, adding that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the navy might have compromised and sent cadets to Palau, as not going anywhere would have upset them.
“Was the navy’s top brass not even able to set the priorities straight?” he asked.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), a retired lieutenant general, said that as the mission was part of Taiwan’s defense diplomacy, the president must have known about it and would have had the final say on whether it could proceed.
The last thing Tsai should do is say that she is livid about the cluster infection, Wu said, adding that instead, she should stabilize the morale of the nation’s armed forces by first taking care of the sick personnel and their families.
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