The government and the opposition yesterday traded barbs over a plan to open up a hangar at Taipei Songshan Airport reserved for the presidential plane to business tycoons and privately owned jets.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has proposed turning the hangar for the presidential plane into a business aviation center, providing a full range of services from aircraft parking to maintenance.
The hangar, measuring a little more than a hectare, will be able to accommodate 10 private aircraft, while the presidential plane will be parked in the military’s hangar, the proposal says.
The proposal was made following a directive from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in March, when he asked the Ministry of National Defense to study the possibility of using some of the military properties at the airport to establish a commercial jet service center.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday called the proposal another example of how the Ma government lavishes benefits on large corporations.
“This administration is willing to give up just about anything for big business,” DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said. “It does things completely based on the interests and needs of these corporations.”
Saying that the location of the berth of the presidential jet was based on national security concerns, Lin said any attempts to move it would have important security implications.
Comparing the issue with the recent farmland expropriation dispute in Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough (大埔), Lin said the Ma government finds time to make things easier for big business owners but would not spare more than two minutes to listen to the voice of thousands of Miaoli County farmers, who had traveled to Taipei earlier this month to appeal to the president.
Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) dismissed the criticism and urged the DPP to stop politicizing the issue.
Lo said many international airports are equipped with business aviation centers or a business-only hangar to attract the interest of major firms and investors.
“We regret that the DPP is so short-sighted and using politics to hinder the development of business aviation in Taipei,” he said.
Lo also dismissed the DPP’s accusations that Ma favored business groups and urged the DPP to abandon its “closed-door policy.”
“A more convenient airport will increase the willingness of top business tycoons to visit and invest in Taiwan,” he said.
Lo said Ma respected the CAA’s proposal and wanted the new business aviation center to enhance convenience at Songshan Airport and attract more international business groups to invest in Taiwan. He added that the changes would not affect the president’s safety.
“The president does not oppose the adjustment of the aircraft aprons. The development of Taipei City and interests of Taiwan are his priority,” he said.
Lin later yesterday hit back at Lo’s comments that the DPP was trying to isolate the country internationally, saying the government should not blame its own policy mistakes on the DPP.
“I can’t see how the two issues are related,” Lin said. “[They] should refrain from making bad policy decisions and then blaming it on us.”
Meanwhile, the CAA said the changes would not only benefit private businesses. .
“Private jets owned by the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital or Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli have all landed at Taipei Songshan Airport, which has helped facilitate diplomatic relations and shaped a positive image for Taiwan,” it said.
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