People First Party (PFP) legislators yesterday appealed to lawmakers from other opposition parties and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to put aside their differences and jointly stipulate special statutes on the restoration of the area in Greater Kaohsiung affected by last week’s gas pipeline explosions.
The Executive Yuan could start drafting a chemical disasters response act to integrate the government’s resources to rescue people hurt in such incidents, the PFP lawmakers said.
PFP Legislator Thomas Lee (李桐豪) told a press conference in Taipei that he hoped Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) could brief legislators on how the government responded to the disaster and also review its actions in addressing the situation.
Photo: Liu Hsin-der, Taipei Times
Lee said he might propose a third plenary session to review the special statutes.
“The Legislative Yuan will do everything to help the draft the special statutes,” Lee said. “We hope that factories that manufacture chemical products can learn how to handle disasters caused by chemicals.”
Lee said that gas pipeline issues have not been addressed for three or four decades, and the regulations should be thoroughly evaluated.
PFP Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) said the nation does not have an agency similar to the US’ Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has personnel professionally trained to handle chemical hazards and standardized operating procedures to deal with related disasters.
The government also lacks a chain of command to direct and monitor such hazards, she said.
She said that local governments should establish agencies to deal with chemical hazards and employ trained professionals to oversee disaster management, adding that firefighters need to be educated more on the nature of different chemicals to make correct decisions and reduce casualties.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Wu Yi-cheng (吳益政) said that the central and local governments should work together to help petrochemical companies to relocate so that residents can feel safe.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) held a separate press conference in Taipei, calling for the formation of a legislative subcommittee to investigate the explosions.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS