CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) chairman Derek Chen (陳金德) yesterday tendered his resignation amid mounting criticism over a nationwide blackout on Tuesday.
Premier Lin Chuan (林全) has approved Chen’s resignation, Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said last night.
Chen’s decision follows Lee Chih-kung’s (李世光) resignation as minister of economic affairs on Tuesday, when a massive blackout hit businesses and households nationwide.
Photo: CNA
The outage was caused by human error during the replacement of power supply system components at a natural gas power plant in Taoyuan’s Datan Township (大潭).
“I tendered my verbal resignation to the premier on Wednesday, but he asked me to clear out doubts [about the incident] before leaving,” Chen told a media conference in Taipei, referring to questions whether CPC or its contractor Lumax International Corp (巨路) was responsible for the power disruption.
Chen said the state-owned refiner had investigated the blackout and shared its findings with the Cabinet earlier this week, as well as offered suggestions for reform.
“As so many people were affected by the incident, I wanted to extend CPC’s deepest apologies to the public and, as the chairman, I have to accept responsibility,” Chen said.
He denied that he was stepping down because of political interference or pressure from the Cabinet.
He also declined to talk about possible candidates for the position, saying he should not interfere with the company’s future affairs.
On Thursday, Chen said that CPC would seek to terminate its contracts with Lumax in the near term.
He said that CPC’s relationship with its contractors has been “too good” for too long, which resulted in flawed maintenance work.
However, at yesterday’s conference CPC spokeswoman Ann Bih (畢淑蒨) said CPC would first discuss contract terms with Lumax to determine responsibility in the blackout.
CPC vice president J.Z. Fang (方振仁), who is in charge of the company’s industrial safety department, announced the results of the company’s investigation into the incident, which he said confirmed what CPC had said earlier.
CPC and Lumax engineers were replacing power supply equipment for a control system at the Datan Natural Gas Power Plant on Tuesday, but forgot to switch the system from automatic to manual mode before starting the work, according to the findings of the 10-member investigation team.
Fang said the misstep caused two valves to automatically close, shutting off gas supplies to six generators, he said.
CPC has not yet made a decision on disciplinary measures, Fang said, declining to provide a timetable.
Additional reporting by Reuters
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS