The government failed to learn from previous disasters and failed to improve inadequate flood prevention measures, Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) said yesterday as he ordered Control Yuan members to launch an investigation into government accountability in the wake of Typhoon Morakot.
Wang said the Control Yuan would hold off on subpoenaing government officials for the moment to avoid obstructing disaster relief efforts.
He said the government failed to address problems and learn from the suggestions on disaster prevention measures that the Control Yuan had presented several times in the past.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Wang said he was deeply saddened by the tragedy.
“I was so angry that I wanted to scold and kill people, but I didn’t know who to blame. I believe Taiwanese are also feeling disheartened and indignant,” he said.
The Control Yuan last week issued corrective measures to 14 government agencies for their handling of Typhoon Kalmaegi last year, while similar warnings had been issued to government agencies in each of the previous three Control Yuan terms.
Wang said that a significant amount of heartache could have been prevented if the government had paid more attention.
“We will not allow the power of the Control Yuan to be disregarded. The Control Yuan will impeach the heads of government institutions who failed to improve the problems highlighted by the Control Yuan’s corrective measures,” Wang said.
He said government agencies’ defiance of corrective measures issued by the Control Yuan was more serious than corruption.
“The Control Yuan is entitled to impeach heads of government agencies repeatedly until they step down, and to keep impeaching their successors until problems are resolved,” Wang added.
Control Yuan Vice President Chen Jinn-lih (陳進利) will work with the heads of the four sitting Control Yuan committees to decide how to examine the government’s responsibility for losses suffered as a result of inadequate disaster prevention measures.
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS