Legislators from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Wednesday strongly opposed a plan by the Executive Yuan to relocate the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) and the Fisheries Agency to Taipei.
In separate statements, DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and the KMT’s Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) urged the government not to waste taxpayers’ money after so much was spent to move the headquarters of the two agencies from Taipei to Kaohsiung less than a year ago.
Both Kuan and Huang represent constituencies in Kaohsiung City.
The Fisheries Agency was relocated to Kaohsiung City on Oct. 30 last year and the SAC was moved there on Feb. 1 this year. The relocation was part of the former DPP government’s policy of narrowing the north-south gap.
The DPP lost power in the presidential election on March 22.
The KMT-led Cabinet recently asked the legislature to withdraw the amendment under which the Fisheries Agency was relocated to Kaohsiung.
Meanwhile, the council has organized two public hearings in Kaohsiung and Taipei over the past two days to assess the possibility of moving its offices back to Taipei.
Kuan criticized the moves, saying they were aimed at thoroughly overturning the former government’s policy.
The gap between the north and the south would remain, and the hopes of the people in the south for an injection of resources into that area would also be destroyed, she said.
Huang said that when the Fisheries Agency was moved to Kaohsiung last year, 118 agency personnel were also relocated.
Each of them is entitled to a monthly subsidy of NT$20,000 and other benefits because of the relocation, she said.
If the agency is moved back to Taipei, the huge amount of taxpayers’ money that the government spent on the relocation would have been wasted, she said.
Kaohsiung City Director of Information Shih Che (史哲) also urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) not to scrap the DPP policy but to pay attention to public opinion.
It was reasonable to base the two organizations in Kaohsiung as the city is one of the country’s main fishing areas and it also accommodates a national sports training center, Shih said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard