A Control Yuan member said yesterday he might “consult” President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over the much criticized MRT Neihu Line.
“It is necessary for the Control Yuan to understand [the construction and operation of the Neihu Line] and to ‘consult’ him [Ma] on what happened during his tenure [as Taipei mayor],” said Control Yuan member Ger Yeong-kuang (葛永光), who is in charge of an investigation into the malfunctions of the line.
Ger said he would not rule out making an appointment with the president, but he said the move should not be interpreted as “summoning the president for questioning” because Control Yuan members do not have the constitutional authority to probe incumbent presidents.
The Constitution gives the Control Yuan the power to investigate the Executive Yuan and its subordinate organizations.
Another Control Yuan member, Chen Yung-hsiang (陳永祥), said Control Yuan members might question Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) or higher-ranking officials as its investigation proceeds.
Chen said the members would focus on problems with the line and how to ensure smooth operation of the system.
Ger, Chen and Control Yuan member Chao Jung-yao (趙榮耀) launched an investigation into the Neihu Line after taking an inspection trip of the line on Wednesday.
The Taipei City Government has come under fire because of a number of malfunctions since the Neihu Line commenced operations on July 4.
Trains on the Neihu and Muzha lines came to a stop last Friday after a power outage, forcing about 700 passengers to walk along the elevated rail lines to station platforms because their trains had stopped between stations.
Chen yesterday said he felt that the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp had not spent enough time testing integration of the two lines’ systems, adding that the Neihu Line might have begun operation “a little bit earlier” than it should have.
Taipei City Secretariat Deputy Director Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光) said yesterday that Hau and the municipal administration would cooperate with the investigation, and defended the decision-making process before the line was opened.
The city government and the Neihu Line’s builder, Canada-based Bombardier, have been working to fix the malfunctions and frequent false alarms since the line started operation on July 4, he said.
At a separate setting yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said there were too many “coincidences” that connect the decisions made by Ma during his tenure as Taipei mayor to the current state of the Neihu Line.
For example, Cheng said, because Ma did not consider the potential for population growth in Neihu, he did not increase the capacity of the line from medium to high. Also, Ma changed the plan from building an underground metro line to an elevated one. Ma’s last minute-decisions created many construction and management problems during the process, Cheng said.
The DPP demanded that Ma give an explanation as to why he switched the contractors from French company Matra to Bombardier Inc, Cheng said.
“All these changes added extra expenses to the original budget and disturbed the original schedule,” Cheng said. “The Control Yuan must get to the bottom of this. If the investigation results call for an impeachment, then it should do just that.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
Also See: EDITORIAL: The limits of Ma’s achievements
Also See: Economic costs of unwise decisions
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
RSS