The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) for proposing that the central government cut subsidies to cities and counties that have publicly spoken out against a proposed trade agreement with China.
Tsai, a member of the KMT’s standing committee, “displayed a lack of respect for democracy,” DPP spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said, adding that he was unsure what Alex Tsai hoped to accomplish as “everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the agreement.”
The spokesman called Tsai’s comments “groundless fear-mongering.”
Speaking at the Legislature’s Finance Committee on Wednesday, Alex Tsai said that any city or county that did not support a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China should have their subsidy transfers from the central government cut.
He said subsidies should also be cut for those areas that persist in criticizing Taipei City for failing to pay back fees owed to the National Health Insurance system.
During the session, Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) agreed with Alex Tsai’s comments.
“You read my mind,” he later told Alex Tsai.
Tsai Chi-chang said the KMT’s tactics were “becoming eerily similar to those of a dictatorship, similar to China, which attempts to control and limit freedom of expression.”
The DPP is also asking for Lee to stand down because of his “inability to remain neutral over the issue, which makes him unfit to be be a public servant.”
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Alex Tsai clarified his remarks, saying it would be inappropriate for people who did not support the nation’s development to share in its largesse.
He also pledged his support for the besieged minister, but said Lee should have taken an even tougher stance.
This did not prevent heavy criticism from DPP-controlled cities and counties, some of which accused both Alex Tsai and Lee of being “undemocratic” and demanded a public apology from both.
“[Alex Tsai’s] comments betray his autocratic ideas. What he said is deeply regrettable. He should apologize immediately,” said Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) who has expressed support for a referendum on an ECFA.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday also criticized Alex Tsai’s proposal, saying that distribution of government funding had nothing to do with local government support for an ECFA.
KMT Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) came to Alex Tsai’s defense yesterday, saying the proposal was appropriate.
This was not the first time Alex Tsai created controversy over an ECFA.
He previously asked company representatives attending a Financial Supervisory Commission report to publicly state whether they supported the agreement.
On Monday, Tsai also proposed to the legislative Finance Committee that banks, insurance and securities companies be required to promote an ECFA before being awarded licenses to operate in China.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the