Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien said yesterday the government watchdog would look into the responsibilities of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) in the government’s handling of the Typhoon Morakot emergency.
A number of Control Yuan members have said that they would like to submit a report on the subject to the legislature, the organ authorized by the Constitution to impeach the president and vice president.
In accordance with the additional articles to the Constitution, the nation’s president or vice president can be removed from their posts if Grand Justices of the Judicial Yuan uphold an impeachment motion initiated by the legislature.
PHOTO: YU HSUEH-LAN, TAIPEI TIMES
The impeachment process against the president or vice president can be initiated if the proposal is made by more than one-half of the lawmakers in the legislature and passed by more than two-thirds of legislators, whereupon it would be presented to the Judicial Yuan for adjudication.
Wang had previously said the highest-level official the Control Yuan could investigate was the premier, because it has no constitutional right to impeach Ma.
He did not say whether he supported presenting the Control Yuan’s report to the legislature, which is expected to be completed within three months.
The Control Yuan said that it would review the government’s handling of weather prediction, the disaster rescue system, flood prevention and management projects, soil and water conservation work, roads and bridges maintenance, national land planning, post-disaster accommodation for victims and reconstruction, post-disaster disease control and prevention, as well as price stabilization.
Meanwhile, Control Yuan members Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) and Yeh Yao-peng (葉耀鵬) said yesterday they would visit Kaohsiung City tomorrow to hear people’s complaints.
Huang said that he and a colleague, Chen Yung-hsiang (陳永祥), were assigned to investigate the tragedy in Siaolin Village (小林), Jiasian Township (甲仙), Kaohsiung County.
The mountain village was buried by mud and debris that were washed down by a powerful landslide caused by heavy rainfall on Aug. 8.
As many as 400 residents of the village are believed to have perished.
Huang said he would try to determine the extent of the damage done to the Pingpu Aboriginal village and culture and whether the surviving residents were properly resettled.
Chen has been tasked with finding out what doomed the village, Huang said.
ADDITONAL REPORTING BY CNA
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS