The Agency of Irrigation was yesterday officially established, with its main aim being to increase the number of fields that are irrigated, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said.
The Legislative Yuan on July 2 passed the third reading of a bill to convert the nation’s 17 irrigation associations into a central government body.
The new agency was established despite strong opposition from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and some farmers, who said that the Democratic Progressive Party government was resorting to a “tyranny of the majority” in an attempt to forcibly “seize associations’ assets under the guise of upgrading them to government bodies.”
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Noting that Taiwan is expected to experience drought periodically through the first half of next year due to weather system La Nina, Chen said that the agency would be able to more effectively control and distribute water resources.
The agency would promote the use of intelligent irrigation systems and modern equipment, he said, pledging that it would prove to farmers to be better than its predecessor.
Agency Director Tsai Sheng-fu (蔡昇甫) said that its priority would be to step up agricultural irrigation construction projects, adding that the agency would later also focus on investigating and handling incidents of water pollution.
Most importantly, the agency must supervise the provision of water to an additional 370,000 hectares of farmland outside of the irrigation zone and not just the 310,000 hectares in the zone, he said.
Tsai said that the agency would operate transparently with regard to how it uses its assets, which under its predecessor organizations were estimated to be NT$100 billion (US$3.43 billion) or more.
“All funds or assets will be used for the service of farmers,” he said.
Tsai said that farmers’ rights would not be affected now that the agency, as a governmental unit, has taken over irigation affairs, adding that it would not expropriate property belonging to farmers.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard