President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he would soon call a meeting to address the nation’s water shortage problem because precipitation levels are below expectations and most reservoirs are silted up, lowering their capacity.
Ma did not provide any details about the meeting, but referred to the Zengwun Reservoir (曾文水庫) in Chiayi County, in which the water volume is at 39 percent of capacity, he said.
Although the government can transport water from the north to the south as an emergency measure, it is not a long-term solution, he said.
“We must come up with a comprehensive water economizing program,” he said.
Ma made the remarks while meeting the winners of this year’s National Golden Award for Architecture at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
Ma also proposed subsidizing purchases of green buildings because their designers are eligible for government grants. Consumers purchasing home electronic devices with energy-saving functions also qualify for a NT$2,000 subsidy per item, he said.
Commenting on the country’s slipping ranking in a recent climate change performance report, Ma said the data used for the report was from 2007. Since he took office in May last year, Ma said he imposed the so-called “1-2-3” program at the Presidential Office to save water, electricity, gas and paper.
The program has helped the Presidential Office reduce its electricity usage by 10 percent, gas by 15 percent, water by 20 percent and paper by 30 percent, he said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
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