Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said yesterday he was displeased with the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait’s (ARATS) delayed response to the melamine scandal and will request that the Chinese side come up with more solutions during the meeting between Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) in Taichung next week.
“I am disappointed and upset about ARATS’ response. The request will be filed during the meeting next week,” Yaung told legislators at the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee yesterday morning.
He said that ARATS’ response to the Sanlu group’s bankruptcy came too late and that more than 12 companies in Taiwan had no means to request compensation for the estimated losses of NT$700 million (US$21 million) they suffered during the tainted milk incident.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) said the incident took place more than a year ago, when milk powder products from Sanlu, a Chinese manufacturer, tested positive for melamine. The SEF forwarded the compensation request from Taiwanese companies to ARATS on Jan. 5, but ARATS did not respond until June 22. ARATS’ second response arrived last month, when the DOH was told that Sanlu was out of business and had gone bankrupt.
Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) and other officials yesterday briefed Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on the topics to be discussed during next week’s talks in Taichung.
The briefing was scheduled for lawmakers across party lines, but no DPP members were present.
“Some DPP lawmakers came and left after complaining about the short notice,” Wang said.
Asked how the legislature could exercise its role in overseeing the four agreements to be signed in the talks given the government’s position that the deals will be submitted to the legislature after being signed and for reference only, Wang said that lawmakers have the right to demand deliberation.
“Lawmakers can demand review of the agreements. [However], as the session will end in just over a month’s time, maybe there won’t be enough time to review them,” Wang said.
The agreements will take effect automatically after 60 days.
In related news, deputy chief of the Taichung City police bureau Yu Hui-mao (余輝茂) said yesterday that traffic controls would be enforced from Dec. 18 through Dec. 24.
Taichungguang Road (between Dongda Road and Liming Road) will be closed off and traffic will be prevented from entering and exiting the Taichung Interchange to prevent interruptions to traffic flow along Freeway 1. Drivers will be asked to use the Daya or Nantun Interchanges.
Traffic controls will also be in place for the DPP march on Dec. 20 between 1pm and 6pm.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
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