The Control Yuan yesterday officially impeached nine officials for dereliction of duty over the March 19 assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (
Among those impeached were former National Security Bureau (NSB) chief Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明), former deputy chief of the NSB special service center Chiu Chung-nan (邱忠男), the president's former chief aide-de-camp Lieutenant General Chen Tsa-fu (陳再福) and deputy chief of the General Shen Tsai-tien (沈再添).
Chen and Lu were travelling in an open motorcade in Tainan City canvassing for votes, one day before the presidential election when they were shot at twice, both sustaining minor injuries.
The Control Yuan decided that security personnel on duty that day were negligent and Control Yuan members criticized the impeached officials severely yesterday.
"The security of the president and vice president directly influences national and social security, and the security measures to protect the two leaders should be of the highest caliber," said Control Yuan member Chen Chin-li (陳進利), who is in charge of the investigation of the case.
"But under Tsai's leadership, the security mission completely failed; this damaged the country's image and impaired social order. Tsai should be responsible for poor leadership and supervision," Chen Chin-li said.
He added that when the president and vice president were out on the streets to greet the public, Chen Tsa-fu and Shen failed to ask the two leaders to put on bullet-proof jackets, and they also broke rules regarding the motorcade formation, which resulted in the security personnel's failure in guarding the president.
The Control Yuan's impeachment of Chen Tsa-fu and Shen comes as another blow to the Presidential Office's decision in early June to reward them after they were removed from their posts, although Chen Chin-li was reluctant to comment on whether the rewards were appropriate.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
RSS