KMT approves of Lee's expansion of emergency decree into Chiayi area

High-level KMT officials yesterday defended President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) announcement extending the Sept. 25 emergency decree to areas struck by Friday's earthquake in Chiayi.

The China Times Express yesterday quoted KMT officials as saying that the damage in Chiayi does not necessitate a full-scale state of emergency. The Executive Yuan could specify certain items in the Sept. 25 emergency decree to be applied to the Chiayi region, the officials said. Such a move need not be reviewed by the Legislature, the officials said.

However, President Lee will have to announce a separate emergency decree if it is to be applied with full force in the Chiayi area, the officials said.

National Taiwan University professor Lu Jui-chung (盧瑞鍾) said at a symposium yesterday that the Executive Yuan should consider asking President Lee for another emergency decree if a state of emergency is to be applied at all to areas struck by Friday's earthquake.

Otherwise, the Executive Yuan should only use normal administrative decrees for relief work, Lu said. Academia Sinica researcher Liu Yi-chun (劉義鈞) said the legitimacy of applying the decree to Chiayi is very much in question -- from both constitutional and practical points of view.

Officials from the Executive Yuan had explained Saturday that Chiayi is within the geographical confines of the emergency decree, citing specifically the phrase "other pockets" -- referring to other areas affected by the earthquake that could be placed under the decree's jurisdiction.