Flying on Air Force VIP transport aircraft could be cheaper than taking a bus if a new draft proposal by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) came into effect.
When President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) flies to a political event, his campaign reimburses the government only a fraction of what it costs to operate the aircraft, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators said yesterday.
Now the ministry has proposed that non-government personnel traveling with the president and other senior government officials pay NT$337 per passenger for a 300km trip between Taipei’s Songshan Airport and Kaohsiung’s Siaogang International Airport.
A similar trip on a bus would cost about NT$520, a train NT$845 and a seat on a commercial aircraft NT$1,400.
Such rock-bottom prices mean that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) campaigning events would be subsidized by taxpayers, the DPP legislators said.
“Where is the separation between the government and the KMT?” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) asked.
“It’s a case where essentially our taxpayer dollars are going into private pockets … we want the government to prevent non-government personnel from using these planes,” Tsai said, adding that most of these personnel were KMT officials traveling to campaign events.
Officials from the ministry and DPP lawmakers said the proposed fees were the result of a misunderstanding after the DPP caucus asked the ministry in December to ensure that ticket prices for travel on Air Force VIP airplanes were in line with rising fuel costs.
In a report recently submitted to the Presidential Office for approval, the ministry said that based on current fuel costs, the price per non-government personnel on the planes should be revised to NT$337.
The proposal was later dismissed by the office after officials said the lowered price “did not fulfill society’s expectations.”
“The [MND] deliberately distorted our requests,” Tsai said.
In a press conference yesterday, the ministry said the fees were only a suggestion that would not be officially used.
“After we drew up the formula, we found that if we used it we would not fulfill public expectations, so it did not make its way into the final proposal,” ministry spokesman Yu Sy-tue (虞思祖) said.
Fees for non-government personnel traveling on VIP aircraft are based on the average prices for domestic economy class tickets.
This was not the first time the president’s use of the VIP planes was criticized.
The opposition panned Ma last year after Air Force planes were frequently used by the president and members of his entourage in campaign stops for local KMT candidates during local elections.
While the president uses a specially modified Boeing 737 for trips abroad, the Air Force maintains three aging Fokker F50s for use by officials on domestic business.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS