President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) told local residents yesterday that they should decide how their town should be rebuilt, local reports said.
As the furor over who should take the lead -- the central or local governments -- in rebuilding disaster areas was growing, Lee shifted the focus elsewhere.
Visiting Puli township (埔里鎮) in Nantou County yesterday, Lee told township chief, Chang Hung-ming (張鴻銘), "now you're in charge, you're the man up top, it'll be a lot of work," the United Evening News quoted Lee as saying.
On Friday, Lee said township leaders should take the reigns.
Lee also urged the holding of township meetings to determine the wishes of local residents.
Nantou County Commissioner and Peng Bai-hsien (彭百顯), an independent, has suggested the entire layout of Puli be redesigned.
Puli township was severely damaged by the earthquake that struck Taiwan on Sept. 21. More than 7,500 houses in the township were damaged beyond repair in the quake that has now claimed over 2,000 lives and left more than 100,000 homeless.
While being briefed by military officials involved in relief and resconstruction efforts, President Lee expressed his concern over the sluggish demolition of damaged structures.
Lee said the government should loosen its definition of collapsed housing. Damaged housing that residents are unwilling to live in should be considered destroyed, Lee said, making them eligible for further government relief.
The government's current policy is that owners of collapsed houses will be compensated with NT$200,000, and NT$100,000 for partially collapsed structures.
President Lee also proposed that the government involve local residents in reconstruction efforts by issuing wages to them.
The administrative emergency decree issued by President Lee has freed up NT$160 billion in government funds for reconstruction, stated Paul Chiu (邱正雄), Minister of Finance, yesterday morning.
Chiu said that the Ministry of Finance was considering expanding the scope of the NT$500 billion National Stabilization Fund (國家安定基金) -- previously used to support the stock market -- thereby allowing the government to raise more private capital for reconstruction.
In a turnaround from previous announcements, Chiu also said that the ministry would consider issuing lottery tickets to raise reconstruction funds, the China Times Express reported. Chiu however ruled out a possible increase in business taxes.
The Executive Yuan said yesterday that it would relax government assistance policies for households in the disaster areas so residents receive income supplements from the Central Government.
Previously, only individuals or households registered in stricken areas were eligible for government funds if their housing was damaged. The newly issued statement will render residents not legally registered in the areas eligible. Residents need only obtain proof of residency from their neighborhood chief.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS