Pan-green legislators clashed with National Science Council (NSC) officials in a legislative committee meeting yesterday, accusing the council of mismanaging an infrastructure project worth NT$8.4 billion (US$256 million) in the Southern Taiwan Science Park.
According to NSC officials, the project in question was designed to reduce vibrations caused by the new high-speed railway, which runs through the park.
Scores of chipmakers in the park canceled investments worth tens of billions of US dollars in 2001 due to fears that the vibrations would disrupt their operations, according to an August 2001 report in the Asian Wall Street Journal.
The NSC, which runs the park, launched the "vibration reduction" project that year to stem further investment loss, the report added.
In May, former NSC vice minister Shieh Ching-jyh (
Shieh, once the nation's premier rocket scientist, is the first Cabinet-level official in President Chen Shui-bian's (
Shieh's critics insist he steered the contract for the project to a crony company, a charge Shieh has denied.
"The project's cost was unreasonably high," Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Liao Pen-yen (
Liao added that the contract for the project was overpriced to benefit certain parties, and demanded a clear breakdown of its budget.
In August Liao claimed that Shieh was part of a conspiracy involving Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members to drive up the price of the contract and steer it to Sheus Technologies Corp, a local rubber manufacturer. Their goal, the lawmaker alleged, was to fleece taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Liao then didn't explain his reasoning during the interview, or offer any evidence supporting his theory.
DPP Legislator Kuo Chun-ming (
Not all pan-green lawmakers in attendance were critical of Shieh, however.
DDP Legislators Kuan Bi-ling (
Chen Chien-jen said that Shieh had the sense of mission and responsibility to take on the tough project. He added that the project was on schedule, on budget and had performed well on numerous tests to gauge its effectiveness in dampening vibrations.
Top officials from the Public Construction Commission and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications corroborated Chen's comments at the meeting.
In a phone interview the Taipei Times last night, Shieh, who has been out on bail since July, said Sheus Technologies was chosen for the project because "their methodology was better at reducing vibrations than their competitors during the bidding process," which he described as a rigorous procedure conducted by a panel of engineers.
As for Liao's accusations, Shieh called them "fabrications," adding that the Control Yuan had already combed through his financial records as well as those of his wife, son and daughter.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS