by Brian Hioe

語言:
English
Photo Credit: Chiang Wan-an/Facebook

A TYPHOON HOLIDAY called for northern Taiwan has led to contention between the KMT and DPP. Controversy revolves around the fact northern Taiwan called a typhoon day for Wednesday on Tuesday evening despite the fact that the impact from the typhoon turned out to, in fact, be minimal. A second typhoon day was later declared for Thursday, though whether the effects of the Typhoon Krathom warranted a second typhoon day are debatable. But central and southern Taiwan have been more strongly affected by Typhoon Krathom, with two dead, two missing, and 103 injured, as well as over 50,000 households without power.

In particular, Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, and Taoyuan are all currently controlled by KMT mayors. As constituting the greater Taipei area, with many commuters between Taipei and residential areas New Taipei, Keelung, and Taoyuan, the four municipalities often declare typhoon days jointly. Even so, such unity is sometimes fractured when one or the other of these municipalities is controlled by a pan-Green mayor.

Subsequently, given the disruption to many people’s schedules, criticisms were leveled at the Central Weather Agency (CWA) that the government-run body failed to provide timely information about the typhoon to the KMT mayors of the greater Taipei area, leading them to declare a typhoon day when none was necessary. Specifically, the suggestion was that wind and rain forecast by the CWA declined a great deal once the announcement of the typhoon day was made, and that this was deliberate.

The CWA has denied this, stating that it conducts video conferences with mayors to provide them updates on the latest weather developments before possible typhoon days, and that it has done so since 2018.

Taipei mayor Chiang Wan-an has defended the decision, stating that the declaration was in consideration of possible flooding and landslides in areas prone to such incidents and to give people time to prepare for the typhoon day. A number of DPP politicians have also suggested that Keelung mayor George Hsieh may be behind the typhoon day, as a way to shore up public approval before a recall vote against him scheduled for October 13th.

George Hsieh (center). Photo credit: George Hsieh/Facebook

Part of the claim is that Hsieh either declared the typhoon day unilaterally and forced the other mayors into complying or that the other mayors colluded with Hsieh to ensure that the typhoon day would take place. Indeed, typhoon days are popularly seen in Taiwan as a way that mayors sometimes seek to shore up public approval. That being said, research by Who Governs TW shows that the public mostly rewards mayors who are seen as having made the right call when it comes to typhoon days, rather than simply those who declare them in the hopes that the more days off, the more the public will approve of them.

Contention between KMT mayors and the DPP-controlled central government has been a recurring dynamic of Taiwanese politics in the past decade. This was particularly visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, when KMT-controlled local governments sometimes lashed out at the DPP with the claim that the central government was late in providing them with updated information on pandemic developments, or that it was not distributing them resources that they needed, such as vaccines or masks, in a timely manner.

In turn, DPP legislators often criticized KMT politicians for attempting to pin blame for their own faults of local misgovernment onto the central government. But accusations by greater Taipei mayors that the CWA did not provide them with timely and accurate information are similar, in again lashing out at an institution of the central government with the claim that it aimed to sabotage their governance.

Either way, the trajectory of Typhoon Krathom has been a highly unusual one, spending an unusual amount of time in southern Taiwan and having an unclear trajectory. The slow movement of Typhoon Krathom was one reason as to why a typhoon day was declared prematurely, in that the typhoon has been slow to make landfall in Taiwan. Some anticipate that the storm may weaken into a tropical depression in Taiwan in the coming day. The timing of Typhoon Krathom in October is also unusual, when typhoon season has usually ended by this time of the year.

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