Opposition lawmakers yesterday accused the legislature’s Finance Committee, chaired by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福), of political oppression by seeking to arrange a special panel report on whether the Greater Kaohsiung Government misallocated donations received after last year’s pipeline explosion.
The disaster occurred on the night of July 31 and the morning of Aug. 1 last year in Kaohsiung’s Cianjhen (前鎮) and Lingya (苓雅) districts, killing 32 people and injuring more than 300.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡), Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) and Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the report was intended to target the municipal government, adding that the committee should not become a place for personal political vendettas.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said the municipal government updates donations and charity funds on its Web site daily and is easily accessible, adding that she has never seen Lin express any concern for Kaohsiung before.
“Who is behind the move for such a panel, the top echelons of the KMT or is it KMT party chairman candidate [New Taipei City Mayor] Eric Chu (朱立倫)?” Kuan asked.
DPP Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) asked Lin sarcastically whether he could read Chinese, pointing to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s announcement that the actual data for the funds had yet to be compiled.
“We wish to see your concern, not your false statements against the municipality,” Chao said.
In response, Lin said that as the committee chair, he was within his rights to look into any issue, adding that many residents of the municipality had called his office, concerned about why they had not yet received the NT$6,000 donation that was promised them.
The planned report is designed to determine whether any wrongdoing has occurred, Lin said.
If the municipal government has nothing to hide, there is no reason why it could not publicize a transparent account for the public, Lin added.
Wu countered that based on Lin’s logic, DPP lawmakers should also be allowed to arrange a panel report on whether President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) received under-the-table political donations from Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團).
Wu was referring to allegations that Ma took off-the-book donations from the Wei (魏) family, Ting Hsin’s owners, during his presidential campaign in 2012.
“The [proposed] panel report is highly politicized and should be canceled,” Wu said.
After a recess announced in reply to the DPP legislators asking for a change in schedule, both sides reached an agreement to take the matter off the schedule so other issues could proceed within the committee.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
China is attempting to subsume Taiwanese culture under Chinese culture by promulgating legislation on preserving documents on ties between the Minnan region and Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said yesterday. China on Tuesday enforced the Fujian Province Minnan and Taiwan Document Protection Act to counter Taiwanese cultural independence with historical evidence that would root out misleading claims, Chinese-language media outlet Straits Today reported yesterday. The act is “China’s first ad hoc local regulations in the cultural field that involve Taiwan and is a concrete step toward implementing the integrated development demonstration zone,” Fujian Provincial Archives deputy director Ma Jun-fan (馬俊凡) said. The documents
RSS