Premier Yu Shyi-kun vowed to introduce a reform plan within two weeks to privatize China Airlines yesterday as Saturday's fatal plane crash continued to grip the political scene.
Meanwhile, the legislature, slated to question the premier over his six-year economic plan, bickered over who should take the political blame for the disaster.
"The ultimate remedy lies in privatization," Yu said when asked to comment on China Airlines in the light of the crash. "I believe that the company will improve its management and operations after being privatized."
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
To speed up the effort, Yu promised to come up with a reform plan in two weeks.
A quasi-governmental organization, the China Aviation Development Foundation has a 71 percent stake in the former state-run carrier. Many of the foundation's board members are retired government or military officials. They manage about NT$50 billion (US$1.45 billion) in assets.
The premier admitted that previous efforts to privatize the carrier had not gone smoothly, but said he is optimistic now that the economy has shown signs of recovery.
He also pledged to take disciplinary measures against any officials found to be negligent once the crash probe arrives at a conclusion.
Yu's remarks failed to satisfy lawmakers, however.
KMT legislator Wu Den-yi (
Dubbed "Challenging 2008," the program is expected to cost NT$2.6 trillion and help the nation achieve an economic growth of 5 percent and create 700,000 job opportunities, among other initiatives, over the next six years.
Wu further pointed out that Tsay Jaw-yang (
"But today Tsay is chairman of the China Aviation Development Foundation while Tsai is vice transportation minister. Are these arrangements compliant with the principle of political accountability?" Wu asked.
Meanwhile, DPP lawmaker Charles Chiang (
"There have been so many domestic air accidents and the council has failed to find out what caused them," Chiang said. "All he does is travel to other countries to put on public relations shows."
Chen Chong-yi (
He urged consumers to boycott China Airlines to force the company to engage in some soul-searching.
Some TSU lawmakers attributed the tragedy to the carrier's use of the word "China" in its title.
To avoid recurrence of bad luck, TSU legislators Lo Chih-ming (
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