The ad hoc Aviation Safety Council (飛安會) will become an entity independent of the Executive Yuan and have the power to mete out punishment to those refusing to cooperate in its efforts to investigate aviation crashes, a Cabinet official said yesterday.
"If approved by the legislature, the Aviation Safety Council will take full charge of the investigation into civil airliners' aviation accidents, while the Civil Aeronautics Administration under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications will still be in charge of the supervision of the civil aviation industry," the official said.
The investigation and oversight of the military aviation has long fallen on the shoulders of the Ministry of National Defense and it may as well remain the same way as it is now.
However, the government is considering entrusting the Aviation Safety Council with the task of investigating sea and land accidents, the official said.
"The idea is to expand the Aviation Safety Council to become some kind of a transportation safety investigation council, which would handle the investigation of sea, land and air accidents," the officials said.
To that end, the Executive Yuan is due to finish reviewing two draft bills this week. They are the organic law of the Aviation Safety Council (
Under the draft of the council's organic law, the council would encompass five members, who are appointed by the premier for a term of three years. In addition to the five members, the council would have at least 18 staffers.
The draft of the aviation investigation law would stipulate that those failing to report to the Aviation Safety Council two hours after an aviation accident takes place would face a fine of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000.
Those refusing to provide information required by the council or causing the loss of the information or evidence would be subject to the same amount of pecuniary penalty.
According to the official, the upgrade of the council's legal status had a lot to do with the devastating crash of China Airlines flight CI611 last year.
The ill-fated jetliner broke into four pieces during its ascent and crashed into the sea en route to Hong Kong on May 25 last year, killing all 225 passengers on aboard.
After one year of investigation, the Aviation Safety Council concluded in June this year that the crash resulted from metal fatigue.
In addition to ordering the upgrade of the council's legal status, Premier Yu Shyi-kun also requested a task force formed under the Cabinet to come up with a plan to improve the aviation safety and in-house management of China Airlines.
The government owns 71 percent of CAL's shares.
Yu also gave a two-year deadline for the company's full privatization project.
China Airlines is dubbed the world's second worst international carrier, according to statistics carried by the Planecrashinfo.com Web site.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all