President says missile mishap 'unforgivable'
ROC Central News Agency
2016/07/02 23:42:59
Taipei, July 2 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Saturday that a Navy ship's misfiring of a missile a day earlier that caused one civilian death and three injuries was something that "absolutely cannot be forgiven."
The president gave a directive to related government agencies to inform neighboring countries and mainland China about the incident, reassuring them that Taiwan's determination to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and throughout East Asia remains unchanged.
The president made her comments at a National Security Council meeting after hearing a briefing on a Chinchiang class corvette's firing of a Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile from a southern Taiwan port.
According to Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺), the president used strong words to chide the Ministry of National Defense: "If there were SOPs and they were not followed by the officers and soldiers, then it shows an utter contempt of disciplines and a complete lack of competency."
"The incident was caused by absolutely more than an individual sailor's mistakes," Huang quoted the president, who added that Hsiung Feng III is an advanced weapon with multiple security deigns -- safety designs that she said have all failed to work because of unimaginable human errors.
Armed forces without any discipline cannot be called armed forces, she was quoted, urging the MND to "thoroughly examine itself."
Tsai said the military must not fear being examined; "only by bravely reflecting can we hope to have strong armed forces."
"When the armed forces make mistakes, I, as president and commander-in-chief, will face the mistakes along with members of the armed forces," she said.
She called the national security meeting right after returning from a nine-day trip to Panama and Paraguay, her first visit to Taiwan's diplomatic allies since taking office on May 20.
Also attending the meeting were Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), Premier Lin Chuan (林全), Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬), Mainland Affairs Minister Chang Hsiao-yueh (張小月), Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維), Coast Guard Administration Director-General Lee Chung-wei (李仲威) and Navy Commander Adm. Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光).
Upon her arrival back home, Tsai expressed her deepest condolences to the family of a fisherman who was killed in the incident, saying it "should not have happened."
At the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, she pledged that the government will deal with the fallout of the incident with a responsible attitude.
At the NSC meeting, Tsai said she has asked Taiwan's officials based in Vietnam and the Philippines to comfort family members of two injured fishing crew members from those countries.
(By Lu Hsin-hui and S.C. Chang)
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