The heads of local municipalities and cities are obligated by law to report to city councils for questioning, Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) said yesterday, adding that it would be a direct violations of the law for Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) not to attend council meetings, as Lai said he would not until charges of alleged corruption against Tainan Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) are resolved.
Lai said on Tuesday that corruption charges filed against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member Lee have “tarnished the image of Greater Tainan as a symbol of Taiwanese democracy,” adding he would not set foot in the council halls until a legal resolution for the charges has been reached.
Lai said he would take “full legal responsibility for his actions” and was directly accountable to the people of the municipality.
Photo: Huang Hsin-po, Taipei Times
Lee’s former rival in the city’s eighth constituency, DPP member Wang Chun-tan (王峻潭) claimed that Lee had bought votes ahead of the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections last year and called for Lee’s majority to be declared void.
The motion — if substantiated — would remove Lee as council speaker and allow the DPP a chance to regain the seat after a number of party members voted against DPP orders on the position.
Lai said he sought to preserve the dignity of Greater Tainan even at the cost of his own reputation, adding that he hoped his actions would expose the problems plaguing the local government.
In response to Chen’s claims, Lai said he hoped the minister would pay more attention to why the local elections were saturated with vote-buying — even for the speakership position.
Meanwhile, reporters questioned Lai on Sunday about a meeting between Lee and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) at a press conference in Tainan.
Lai said that it remains to be seen whether the public could accept someone who would sing You are My Brother — a Taiwanese-language song — with someone who is being investigated for vote buying.
Chu, who is the KMT’s sole candidate for party chairman, and Lee sang the song together.
“If the media will not criticize the event, I’m sure the people will,” Lai said.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) asked whether Chen Wei-zen endorsed Lee’s comments that he would “rather die to prove himself” if the judiciary rules his election void.
Chen Wei-zen said such comments are not to be encouraged, adding that Lee should cooperate with the investigation and accept the judiciary’s eventual ruling.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) started a signature drive yesterday in support of Lai’s resolution to not enter the Greater Tainan City Council before the case is resolved.
The council should not be a shield for Lee to hide behind, especially since he is both a councilor and the speaker, Chen Ting-fei said.
Chen Ting-fei said forms could be signed at two of her offices and an Internet version would be made available, adding that she would also give a copy of the signature drive to Lai so he would know that the people are behind him.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS