President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday denied Beijing had played a role in his decision to delay accepting international aid following Typhoon Morakot.
Ma said his administration considered international assistance humanitarian in nature, not political, adding that the country had received cash and non-cash donations from the US, Japan, Singapore, China, Australia, Germany and other countries.
“We don’t have any political sort of attitude toward these donations,” he said in English at a press conference for foreign correspondents at the Presidential Office. “They are purely humanitarian.”
When asked whether China played a role in his decision-making process, Ma said “No, not at all, not at all.”
Earlier yesterday, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) questioned whether China interfered in the government’s delay in appealing for foreign aid, asking Ma to offer a clear account of whether he had waited until Beijing agreed to donate money before he asked for international assistance.
Lu said she would like to know whether political considerations played a role and outweighed the lives of Taiwanese people and Taiwan’s sovereignty.
“If the first priority of the country’s president is to gauge the attitude of other countries, it is bitterly disappointing,” she said.
Lu said Ma owed the public an explanation on whether he accepted China’s assistance under the condition that he reject international aid and not declare a state of emergency.
Lu also raised the question of whether Washington and Beijing capitalized on the disaster to engage in a power struggle, saying that Washington conveyed via the media that the US military was ready to help as a means to pressure the Ma administration.
While Ma has become the main target of criticism, Lu said it was not totally fair to compare the performance of Ma and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) because Lee had served as president for 12 years before the 921 Earthquake happened so he knew how to be a president and commander-in-chief.
“Ma is still learning how to be a president and does not know how to exercise his power as commander-in-chief,” she said. “Premier Liu Chao-shiuan [劉兆玄] should be condemned for failing to do a better job since he has experience with relief efforts from the 921 Earthquake.”
Lu proposed postponing year-end local elections until new administrative zones are drawn. She suggested establishing a special administrative zone for the 30-odd Aboriginal villages. She also suggested the president appoint a head of the special region and the central government take charge of disaster prevention and relief work.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS