The government is to pay contractors NT$280 million (US$8.87 million) after suspending a digital identification program in 2021, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday.
Asked whether that contradicted his remarks last year that taxpayers would not have to foot the bill after the program was suspended, Chen said the government was able to reduce the payout from the NT$1 billion the contractors originally demanded.
That makes the circumstances different from when he claimed the public would not have to pay for the program, he said.
Photo: screen grab from Ministry of the Interior Web site
The digital identification program is to remain suspended until such time that an independent commission on personal data protection can be established, Chen said.
The commission has to be set up for the government to comply with the Constitutional Court’s ruling that an independent personal data watchdog must be created, he said.
Separately yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that the government should be held accountable for the loss of taxpayers’ money.
“Making a policy mistake is worse than corruption,” Chu said. “The important thing here is that there has not been an investigation to find the person responsible.”
Additional reporting by Tsai Tsun-hsun
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS