Premier Lin Chuan (林全) is being “juvenile” in asking all government agencies to turn off their air conditioners in the early afternoon as part of his energy-saving policies, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) opposition to nuclear energy would put the nation’s power supply at risk.
The “nuclear-free home” policy championed by the DPP government has proven unattainable, as power rationing is expected to be imposed soon given Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) low power reserves, KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) said.
KMT caucus vice secretary-general Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) said that Lin’s order that agencies turn off air conditioning from 1pm to 3pm during the summer has drawn mounting criticism from civil servants, which they said felt like “food in a steamer.”
“Like juveniles, Lin and his Cabinet appear to be proud of their ineffective energy-saving policy,” Wang said.
When the DPP was in opposition, it used to accuse Taipower of making false statements about the nation facing a potential power shortage, but now even DPP supporters, such as Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), has expressed concern over a possible shortfall in the nation’s electricity supply, Wang said.
The DPP’s conflicting remarks over the nation’s energy supply has left the public with no choice but to “grudgingly” take measures to conserve electricity, she said.
“President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration excels at using grand, but hollow language like hipsters do, and the Executive Yuan order that agencies turn off air conditioners in the afternoon is no different,” KMT Legislator John Wu (吳志揚) said.
KMT caucus vice secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) said he believed power would be rationed in some regions as soon as next week, with the Tsai administration likely breaking its promise that there would be no power rationing this year.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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