The Legislative Yuan’s ruling and opposition caucuses reached a consensus today to request the Executive Yuan to submit a post-disaster reconstruction bill next week.
On Tuesday, the Legislative Yuan passed the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) request for a Typhoon Danas recovery bill to its second reading, leading to today’s cross-party negotiations chaired by KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁).
Typhoon Danas and subsequent storms have damaged more than 30,000 homes, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said today.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
The Executive Yuan would propose a special spending plan to accelerate recovery and reconstruction efforts in hard-hit areas, Cho added.
People who have been affected can wait no longer and the government must step in to support them, Fu said.
Although the typhoon hit southwestern Taiwan on July 6, Fu said, the Executive Yuan did not officially establish a command post until Tuesday.
The government has failed in disaster recovery efforts, he added.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that Cho has announced the Executive Yuan’s plans to submit a proposal as soon as possible.
She expects the Legislative Yuan to quickly pass the Executive Yuan’s proposal in the middle of next month, she added.
Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張啓楷) said that the TPP caucus is drafting a proposal that would specify subsidies for housing damage, garbage removal and other areas of need.
The Executive Yuan would work to meet Wu’s proposed timeline and review the measures that legislators have already put forward, said Lee Guo-hsing (李國興), the Executive Yuan’s deputy secretary-general.
Additionally, the Executive Yuan rejects the opposition party’s “falsehoods” about the government’s disaster response, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) reportedly said.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS