The National Science Council (NSC,
Failing in urging Vice Chairman Steve Hsieh (
Hsieh made the request to step down on May 8, one day after Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC,
The wrangle between THSRC and NSC over the rail line's vibration problems has been highlighted since late February, when Winbond Electronics Corp (
The Winbond decision was followed by several other DRAM chipmakers pulling out of the park, including Silicon Integrated Systems Co (
The high-speed rail line, which crosses the industrial zone, is scheduled to start in 2005.
For firms locating within 200m from the railroad line, the ideal vibration level was 48dB. According to the contract THSRC signed with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications the accepted level could be as low as 68dB.
Hsieh was the second NSC leader to leave the position because of disputes over the science park.
The NSC has tried to persuade the THSRC to reduce vibration levels of the rail systems by changing details of the construction of a bridge near the park, but their arguments were not accepted. Scientists for the NSC said that this was the only efficient method to solve resonance vibration caused by the passage of the trains.
The THSRC argued that the construction would be carried out based on the contract and its insistence received strong support from the Cabinet on May 8.
To show his resolution to take the responsibility for choosing the site as a industrial park, Hsieh decided on May 8 to leave the NSC, where he had worked for 19 years.
Wei said yesterday the announcement of a candidate to occupy the vacant position left by Hsieh was uncertain.
According to the council, the candidate should be familiar with both technology policies and science-based industrial parks affairs.
The director of NSC's Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park Administration (新竹科學園區管理局), Huang Wen-hsiung (黃文雄), is reportedly being considered by the council as a possible candidate.
Huang said yesterday that he had not been approached about the position.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS