The new heads of the National Police and Fire Administrations took office yesterday.
Wang Jinn-wang (
The two replace Ting Yuan-jinn (
Premier Tang Fei (
After the ceremony concluded, Wang, previously the head of Taipei's municipal police department, held a press conference to announce his blueprint for running the nation's police.
"We will establish a service-oriented concept," Wang said. "Citizens' minor matters will be regarded as major matters for the police. Police officers will treat citizens as customers and aim to offer the highest quality of service."
Wang also vowed to work toward Tang Fei's goal of "sweeping away black gold and establishing a safe and just society."
He identified as crucial tasks the improvement of criminal investigations and crime prevention efforts, minimizing juvenile delinquency, ensuring the safety of women and children and ensuring traffic safety.
Wang, 53, is the youngest ever director-general of the National Police Administration.
In the past five years, the holder of the position of top cop has changed four times -- almost always under a cloud of controversy.
Yen Shih-hsi (
Yao Kao-chiao (姚高橋) succeeded Yen but stepped down ten months later due to the kidnapping and murder of Pai Hsiao-yen (白曉燕), the daughter of popular TV star Pai Ping-ping (白冰冰).
Yao had come under fire for the failure of the police to stop the continuous crime spree by Pai's three fugitive murderers and for a cover-up of another kidnapping by the trio. Ting succeeded Yao in August 1997 and served for three years before quitting to shoulder responsibility for the Pachang Creek incident.
Chao, the new director-general of the National Fire Administration, last served as director of the now defunct Taiwan Provincial Fire Department. He came out of retirement to take the post.
Chao is widely seen by media as close to People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), and his assignment to the new post has been interpreted as part of an effort by the government to seek political balance.
Also in yesterday's ceremony, Chu Cheng-ming (朱拯民), previously secretary-general of the national police administration, replaced Hsieh Jui-chi (
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new