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China to continue donations: premier
‘EMPTY PROMISE’:
After saying that China had only sent a fraction of its pledged donation, the premier admitted there was little he could do if Beijing backed out
By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009, Page 4
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday China would donate NT$5.1 billion (US$158.1 million) to help with post-Typhoon Morakot reconstruction, of which Taiwan has already received NT$800 million to NT$900 million.
During a question-and-answer session with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安), Wu said China was expected to donate the rest to one or two major reconstruction projects such as rebuilding the Shuangyuan Bridge between Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties that collapsed during the typhoon.
Wu said yesterday he believed China would fulfill its promise, but he also said that there was nothing he could do if China did not donate the rest of the money.
Pan told Wu he was concerned that China’s donation might turn out to be an empty promise.
While leading a national memorial service on Sept. 7, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) praised China, saying it “has shown that blood is thicker than water among the people across the Taiwan Strait” with a donation “that exceeds NT$5 billion, the single largest donation [Taiwan has received] from overseas.”
Typhoon Morakot claimed more than 700 lives in early August. Wu briefed the Legislative Yuan yesterday on the Executive Yuan’s request for a special budget of NT$35.6 billion for reconstruction work this year, as well as NT$54.9 billion, NT$22.3 billion and NT$7.2 billion respectively for the next three years.
The Legislative Yuan on Aug. 27 finalized the ceiling of the special budget request at NT$120 billion and agreed to allow the central government to take out loans to raise the money.
The government would also spend NT$155.5 billion from this year’s budget earmarked for less urgent projects on disaster relief and reconstruction efforts, Wu said.
Wu dismissed Pan’s claim that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration would spend the money for reconstruction on securing support for KMT candidates in the year-end city and county chief elections.
Wu said that all of the money in the fund would be spent on rebuilding disaster-hit areas.
Meanwhile, in a briefing to the legislature, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said the Executive Yuan was planning to set up a Cabinet-level disaster prevention and relief agency to integrate and streamline its disaster relief mechanism.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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