Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on the Transportation Committee yesterday accused Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊) and China Pacific Catering Services chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) of belittling the Legislative Yuan for not appearing at the committee’s meeting to answer questions over the cigarette-smuggling scandal implicating Presidential Office bodyguards.
Chen and Yeh were also absent at Monday’s meeting of the Finance Committee, which had also invited government officials linked to the scandal to respond to questions from lawmakers.
KMT Legislator Jennifer Tung (童惠珍), who presided over the Transportation Committee meeting, condemned Chen and Yeh for their absence.
“Based on Article No.67 of the Constitution, we have the right to invite personnel related to the cigarette-smuggling scandal to come to the Legislative Yuan and respond to questions about it. The Presidential Office’s Department of Security Affairs apparently has a major problem, so should not the secretary-general of the Presidential Office explain herself? She has shown apparent contempt for the legislature and this committee. I strongly condemned the pair’s actions,” Tung said.
Members of the committee would consider visiting China Airlines and China Pacific Catering Services if Yeh continues to skip the meeting, Tung said.
New Power Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) exposed the scandal in July, accusing National Security Bureau officials of attempting to smuggle more than 10,000 cartons of duty-free cigarettes upon the return of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her delegation from a state visit to Caribbean allies. The cigarettes had been stored at China Pacific Catering Services’ warehouse at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Tung said she was dissatisfied with the report submitted by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), which was the same one it presented to the Finance Committee on Monday.
However, Democratic Progressive Party Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said that there was one version of the truth, so if what the ministry said on Monday was the truth, then what it said yesterday was also truth.
Tung and Yeh Yi-jin then bickered over the report for about five minutes before the committee began its question-and-answer session.
KMT lawmakers Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) and Alicia Wang (王育敏) asked why Yeh Chu-lan did not have to attend yesterday’s meeting when Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and China Airlines (CAL) chairman Hsieh Shih-chien (謝世謙) were obligated to.
Did Yeh Chu-lan’s absence mean that neither the ministry nor CAL could do anything to control her, even though China Pacific Catering is a CAL subsidiary, Wang asked.
DPP lawmakers vetoed a resolution proposed by Tung and other KMT lawmakers that would have required CAL to submit a new list within two weeks of CAL managers who should be held to account in the scandal.
Yeh Yi-jin said that she voted against the resolution because it misrepresented the government’s response, as the Presidential Office and CAL have taken the scandal very seriously, and Hsieh did not pass the buck to the airline’s ground staff.
Minister Lin has not been soft on CAL either, she said.
People First Party Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said that scandals like the cigarette-smuggling incident would continue to occur as long as the government remained CAL’s largest shareholder.
“The fundamental question one has to ask is that why the airline’s staff members were so willing to be complicit in illegal requests from national security officials. Government agencies together own about 50 percent of the airline. Now it is time to consider turning CAL into an entirely private company,” Lee said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai