Government agencies will take action to curb gasoline hoarding, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday.
During a Cabinet meeting Liu directed government agencies to step up inspections on fuel storage facilities in an attempt to demonstrate the administration’s determination to stop profiteering on gasoline, Cabinet spokeswoman Vanessa Shih (史亞平) said.
“Those caught hoarding will not be dealt with leniently,” Liu was quoted by Shih as saying.
Liu said that if necessary, “allied action” would be taken by central and local governments, law enforcement authorities and officials from consumer protection associations to crack down on hoarders.
The premier directed the Fair Trade Commission to complete inspections of fuel storage conditions around the country as soon as possible and come up with solutions to the problems.
These would include planning “anti-hoarding allied action,” Shih said.
A plan to curb hoarding and stabilize commodity prices was passed at the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Shih said.
For motorists or motorcyclists scrambling to buy gasoline or diesel in anticipation of an imminent fuel price hike, Shih said, some officials suggested at the meeting that the Ministry of Economic Affairs make it clear what kind of containers can or cannot be used to store gasoline or diesel.
This was on the grounds that it is extremely dangerous for ordinary people to make large purchases of such potentially volatile products.
The public is discouraged from purchasing gasoline or other fuel products and storing them in their own containers, Shih said.
In related news, Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) investigators in the south of the country reported yesterday that they had discovered a chemicals company in Tainan County that was suspected of hoarding more than 20,000 liters of gasoline at its factory.
If found guilty, the firm would be violating public safety as well as fair trade principles.
Police in Miaoli County raided two gravel-processing plants yesterday to discover that some 42,000 liters of diesel were being stored there.
Also yesterday, more than 30,000 liters of diesel for fishing boats was discovered in a makeshift factory in the coastal township of Taihsi (台西) in Yunlin County.
The owner of the products was handed over to the Yunlin County prosecutors’ office for further questioning.
The price increases came in the aftermath of the Cabinet giving a green light to CPC Corp, Taiwan, the major state-owned fuel processor and distributor, to raise domestic fuel prices on Tuesday, six days earlier than had been anticipated.
The “unexpected” price increase was aimed at preventing hoarding among consumers and avoiding endangering public safety, Shih said on Wednesday.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it