With the south of the country suffering from serious flooding, the Cabinet yesterday urged the legislature to meet next month to pass a Special Flood Control Act as well as delayed legislation including the arms-procurement package and the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法).
Cabinet Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said a Special Flood Control Act was a priority given that half of the country was suffering from damaging floodwaters.
"It is our sincere hope that lawmakers can help us on this issue because we will definitely regret it next year if we do not launch the project in its entirety," he said.
PHOTO: LEE LEE-FA, TAIPEI TIMES
Cho said the act was proposed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs on March 14 and authorized by the Cabinet on May 18 before being submitted to the legislature the next day. Lawmakers then began to review the proposal on May 27, but no progress has been made since.
The spokesman said that the statute contains comprehensive plans for bank construction and deepening riverbeds. The package has a budget of NT$80 billion (US$2.5 billion) and construction is expected to be finished within eight years, he said.
"Flooding has become a new nightmare for the Taiwanese. Several locations [around the country] are flooded twice every summer. And even in places where there has never been a flood problem there is a threat of flooding now," Cho said. "It takes time and money to solve these problems. We now have a comprehensive plan, but we need the green light to make a start."
Cho said that it was the government's job to help the public avoid suffering from floods.
"I hope that lawmakers feel the same way," he said.
The spokesman said that he understood that the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was busy with its election for party chairman. He said he still hoped his KMT friends would help organize an extraordinary legislative session for next month and accelerate the process of approving the proposals.
In addition to military assistance on the ground, the Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Administration have begun to take precautions against the spread of disease in flood-affected areas.
The Council of Agriculture has also begun to accept applications for reimbursement from farmers whose produce has been destroyed by floodwaters.
Also see story:
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2