Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers yesterday urged prosecutors to freeze the assets of an official suspected of causing a fire that ravaged more than 70 hectares of Yushan National Park in a camping mishap last month.
National Communications Commission senior specialist Joseph Chiao (喬建中) has been quoted by local media as saying that he sparked the fire on May 16 when he accidentally tipped over a gas stove.
The 12-day blaze caused significant damage to the environmental conservation zone around the Dujyuan Campground and three natural scenic areas nearby, TPP caucus secretary-general Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) told an online news conference.
Photo provided by the Taiwan People’s Party
Although Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) pledged to hold the culprits accountable, prosecutors have not filed an injunction to prevent Chiao and his fellow hikers from liquidating their assets, she said.
Hikers on days-long expeditions in the Yushan National Park routinely light fires to cook or keep warm despite regulations, while officials show little interest in enforcing the rule, she said.
There should be a review of the near-total ban on campfires in Yushan National Park to make it more reasonable and easier to enforce, she added.
The Executive Yuan’s 2019 program to deregulate access to national forests led to 295,731 people visiting national parks in the following year, an increase of 32.1 percent, TPP Legislator Ann Kao (高虹安) said.
The surge in visitor numbers coincided with 186 accidents being recorded last year, up 61.7 percent from 2019, she said.
This shows a lack of knowledge and experience about venturing into the wild, she said.
The National Sports Act (國民體育法) should be amended to include wilderness training in physical education courses, she said, adding that this could reduce loss of lives and waste of government resources.
Nature and youth trainer Cheng Ting-pin (鄭廷斌) said the public should be taught how to light campfires safely instead of prohibiting them altogether in national parks.
That Chiao, an allegedly experienced hiker, could not manage his campfire showed that public education in wilderness skills has a lot of room for improvement, he said.
Hiking should be an educational experience and not an act of mindless consumerism, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS