President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday apologized for Tuesday’s massive blackouts, while Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) has been appointed to succeed outgoing Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光).
“On behalf of the government, I apologize for the inconvenience and concerns caused by the power outage. The incident should not have occurred at all,” Tsai said ahead of a Democratic Progressive Party Central Standing Committee meeting.
“Power supply is not simply an issue that affects people’s lives, but is a matter of national security,” she said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The nation is running on a vulnerable power system that can be easily paralyzed by a natural disaster or human error, so it is the government’s top priority to re-examine and reinforce the nation’s infrastructure to ensure supply stability, but few efforts were made to improve grid reliability over the years, Tsai said.
The government has learned more about the importance of protecting basic infrastructure during a three-day drill this month to test security for political and military leaders in an emergency, and she ordered the government to reform the security measures of basic infrastructure to prepare for conflict scenarios, Tsai said.
“The outage tells us that improving grid security and building a distributed, renewable generation system is urgent and correct,” Tsai said, reaffirming the energy transition objectives of her administration.
Meanwhile, Lin also delivered an apology in an Executive Yuan news conference and announced that Shen has been named acting minister after Lee tendered his resignation immediately after the blackouts.
Shen had also tendered his resignation, but it was decided that he should stay and lead the ministry through the transition period, Lin said.
“The incident was caused purely by human error. It is apparent there are grave mistakes with our management system,” Lin said.
“The blackouts, preceded by the shutdown of Ho-Ping Power Plant [in Hualien] due to a typhoon, should not be considered an isolated incident. The whole series of events necessitates a complete re-examination of the nation’s power supply structure,” Lin said.
The Cabinet is to form an external task force to investigate state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油), whose mismanagement of a natural gas supply system appeared to have caused the power disruption, and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), Lin said.
The task force, which would likely consist of international specialists, would examine the national power system and put forward improvement proposals.
While the nation has to move toward a decentralized power distribution system, a secondary, supportive system is needed for major power plants to ensure power grid stability, Lin said.
During the three-day drill, it was found that the infrastructure security measures were “very vulnerable” and could not cope with emergency situations, Lin said.
There is no evidence to suggest the power disruption was deliberately caused, but the government has to prepare for intentional or terrorist attempts to damage power infrastructure, he said.
The phase-out of nuclear power has no bearing on the power outage, because the incident caused the grid to lose about 15 percent of the total supply, which is more than the nation’s nuclear capacity.
“The incident is an issue of power grid stability and has nothing to do with nuclear power. They should not be lumped together to obscure the points,” he said.
Lawmakers have demanded Lin make a formal report at the Legislative Yuan about the power outage, which Lin said he was willing to do.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
RSS