Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Monday again called for the relocation of the Legislative Yuan to Taichung, saying that he has advocated the “alleviation of pressure on the capital” for more than 10 years, citing academics’ warnings that 4,000 buildings would topple if a temblor similar to the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck Tainan on Feb. 6 were to occur in Taipei, which Lin said would paralyze the nation.
He said that his call for the relocation of the Legislative Yuan to Taichung is not to compete against other cities and counties, but for Taiwan to develop into a “multi-centered” nation.
Lin also said that the Legislative Yuan should apply cultural heritage status to its Japanese colonial-era compound, which housed the school buildings of the former Taihoku Prefectural Second Girls’ High School.
The relocation of the Legislative Yuan is “what the trend demands,” Lin said, urging the Taichung City Government Urban Development Bureau to incorporate the possible relocation into the city’s plans that aim to make the Wuri District (烏日), where a high-speed rail station is located, into a sub-center of the city.
Lin on Monday said in a city administration meeting that both newly elected Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) supported the proposal of relocation, adding that while relocating the Executive Yuan might involve a large number of civil servants and their families, the relocation of the Legislative Yuan would be relatively simple.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
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