Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday told Hualien County residents not to make the journey to Taipei during the current bad weather to protest their appeal that “Hualien needs a safe road home,” adding that he would instead travel to Hualien to meet them and address their grievances.
Wu made the remarks at the weekly Cabinet meeting after Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) said he was planning to mobilize more than 10,000 Hualien residents to stage a protest in Taipei on Monday to have their appeal for a safe road heard.
It has been estimated that the more than 80-year-old highway, the only road connecting Yilan and Hualien, has witnessed more than 10,000 traffic accidents, with a death toll of more than 1,000 in the last decade.
PHOTO: HUANG LI-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The safety of the road came under the spotlight again following the latest tragedy on Thursday last week when heavy rains brought by Typhoon Megi triggered landslides along the highway. The incident killed three people, with 24, including 20 Chinese tourists, still missing.
In a bid to demand that the central government speed up a project to upgrade the Suhua Highway, Fu plans to lead Hualien residents on a demonstration in Taipei on Monday morning in front of the Presidential Office.
“Premier Wu is welcome to visit Hualien to explain the project, but our plan remains unchanged,” Fu said yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成), who represents Taitung County, said he would also mobilize residents from his constituency to join the protest.
The proposal to improve the highway with NT$46.5 billion (US$1.51 billion) to be spent on fortification work on adjacent land and the construction of tunnels to bypass several hazardous sections is expected to start at the end of this year and be completed by 2016.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)