Rights groups yesterday rallied in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, urging the government to issue a monthly subsidy of NT$10,000 to each person with a disability so that they could maintain a normal life amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The 1.18 million people with disabilities are among the most disadvantaged groups in Taiwan, but are also the most ignored,” said Cheng Long-shui (鄭龍水), a blind rights advocate who was a New Party legislator from 1996 to 2002.
Cheng, convener of the Save the Disabled and Disadvantaged in Taiwan Action Coalition, led nearly 50 people with disabilities in the rally.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
People with disabilities have been among the worst affected by the pandemic and are in desperate need of the government’s support, he said, before getting on his knees in the directions of the Presidential Office Building, the Executive Yuan and the legislature.
While the government has instituted relief policies, people with disabilities do not meet their requirements, said Chinese Culture University Department of Political Science professor Lin Chung-shan (林忠山), who hosted the rally.
The coalition is making the simple request of monthly cash handouts of NT$10,000 per person with disabilities for six months to help them weather the difficult time, Lin said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), who attended the protest along with other lawmakers from the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party, said that he hoped the government would dedicate part of approved relief budgets to people with disabilities.
When the jobs of people with disabilities are affected, their family’s lives would also be affected, Lin said, adding that the demographic should be prioritized in the relief schemes.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
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