Victims of the collapsed Fenchiu Tunnel (豐丘明隧道) are likely to receive national compensation as the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday said it would reopen the application process.
Nantou County’s Fengchiu Tunnel was crushed by a mudslide during Typhoon Sinlaku in 2008, burying four cars. The victims’ families filed for state compensation, but lost in court.
MOTC minister Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said yesterday the Control Yuan, acting on new evidence, censured the ministry, the Water Resources Agency and an official at the Nantou County Government for failing to do a good job in building the drainage system.
“This is an important factor in granting national compensation,” Mao said while attending the Chinese National Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee. Mao was invited to report on progress in repair work at the Formosa Freeway (National Freeway No. 3), which was damaged by a deadly landslide on April 25, killing four people.
National Freeway Bureau Director-General Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁), who delivered a report on the incident during yesterday’s meeting, said they planned to make public a preliminary report tomorrow and the official report as soon as possible.
The preliminary probe found that the main cause of the landslide was the movement of a dip slope — geological formations often created by the erosion of tilted strata — he said. The ground anchors built to hold back the slopes could not sustain the weight and broke, causing the landslide, he said.
Tseng said the bureau would also conduct a thorough examination of the dip slopes on highways and railways and plans to complete the survey project by the middle of this month.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
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