President Chen Shui-bian (
Presidential Office spokesperson Chen Wen-tsung (陳文宗) said Chen and Lu expected that the probe into the matter would be comprehensive. He said that the incident had had a negative impact on public safety and the nation's image.
Lu said some Taiwanese love to "do it easy" and "hate working hard," and that this was why Taiwan needed to look overseas for labor.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
But she also paid tribute to the small army of foreign laborers that man the nation's construction sites and other workplaces.
"We have to appreciate people who contribute to Taiwan no matter what their nationality. We have to see workers from other countries as our brothers and sisters rather than just as foreigners," she said.
Lu said some Taiwanese discriminated against foreign workers and that these wrong ideas had to be adjusted.
Presidential Office officials said the office would not interfere with the investigation into the riot.
Meanwhile, a delegation from Thailand's legislature arrived in Taipei yesterday to gather information on the riot as well as to offer moral support to Thai workers.
During their four-day visit, the delegation will meet officials from the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) to discuss labor issues.
In Hsinchu County, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday said that former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), the father of acting Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), was not involved in possibly corrupt conduct in relation to the hiring of the workers.
"It is not difficult to find out whether or not I am telling the truth," Hsieh said during a press conference in Sanwan Township (
Hsieh's remarks were referring to an allegation that Chen Che-nan took advantage of his position as a senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) figure to meddle in the hiring of Thai workers for Kaohsiung City's MRT project.
"China Steel Corp (CSC) is the firm that won the bid for the construction of the whole Kaohsiung MRT. But this company has nothing to do with Chen Che-nan," Hsieh said. "If he was really meddling in the matter, the company wouldn't have won the bid, would it?"
"Also, don't forget that then-CSC president Wang Chung-yu (王鍾渝) is now a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker. If there was any reason for a scandal, how is it that the KMT was so quiet?" he asked.
"Officials from Kaohsiung City's Labor Bureau and the MRT Bureau visited them [the Thai workers] to learn if they needed anything. Things were in good shape then," Hsieh said. "However, it is my understanding that the employer did not expand the facilities that were needed, despite hiring another 900 Thai workers in May."
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday gave his support for the Cabinet and the Presidential Office's position, saying that political and electoral considerations should be put aside and that prosecutions should quickly follow if an investigation found collusion between the Kaohsiung City Government and the labor broker for the Thai workers.
Su also rebutted speculation that the scandal was being fueled by DPP factionalism ahead of the Kaohsiung mayoral election.
"The DPP's tradition is that we always thoroughly and courageously scrutinize the mistakes we make and find out why they happened," Su said. "We know that people look to the DPP to remain a reformer [party] and we will correct all the mistakes in response to public expectations."
Both Council of Labor Affairs Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) and Chen Chi-mai have expressed interest in running for Kaohsiung mayor next year.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
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