With a mission to promote harmony in agricultural circles, Fan Cheng-chung (
Yu said that he tapped Fan, the current Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council Speaker (台灣省諮議會諮議長), for the agriculture council's helm because of Fan's success in representing and managing Hsinchu County's agriculture.
Fan, now 61, is a graduate of National Taiwan Ocean University and has been a public figure since he began his first term as a Hsinchu County councilor in 1977.
After serving two terms as county councilor, Fan, a Hakka from Hsinchu, was elected as a National Assembly representative in 1986. Three years later Fan won the support of residents to become Hsinchu County Commissioner and was later re-elected in 1993.
After handing over the leadership of Hsinchu County in 1997, Fan served as a legislator for about a year.
On Tuesday, Yu said that Fan's experience would help to bridge the gap between the central and local governments.
Fan's appointment, however, surprised agricultural officials because of his lack of experience in managing agricultural affairs.
Inside the council, factions formed by National Taiwan University graduates and their counterparts from National Chung Hsing University have reportedly long been engaged in a power struggle.
Agricultural officials, however, said on Tuesday that Fan's position at the council's helm might put an end to the struggle between the two dominant factions.
Fan said Tuesday that a top priority for the council would be listening to local farmers and coming up with strategies for Taiwan's WTO participation.
Fan also said that he would seek out the experience and knowledge of agricultural experts in order to improve his agricultural management skills, acknowledging that his background is in shipping and transportation management.
Ecological conservationists, however, expressed their disappointment over Fan's appointment.
Lin Sheng-zhong (
About 53 percent, or 1,428km2, of Hsinchu County is mountainous. According to Chung Shu-chi (鍾淑姬) of the Hsinchu Environmental Protection Association, in 1991 there were 26 proposals to build golf courses in the county put forward for Fan's approval. Among them, four were located in water source protection areas but two of the four still received approval by local authorities.
In 1992, when conservationists visited Fan to criticize his poor strategies for land management, Fan said that he was unaware of the controversial approvals. In 1997, Fan faced stronger opposition from activists, who claimed that no other county had as many golf courses as Hsinchu. Ecological conservationists argued that the large quantity of pesticides being sprayed on the courses had seriously polluted the county's water.
"Looking at Taiwan's heartbreaking experiences with typhoons last year, we suggest Fan halt inappropriate land management in mountainous areas right away," Lin said, adding that well-planned afforestation should also be carried out.
Lin also said that council-run fruit farms in mountainous areas, such as Fushoushan Farm (福壽山農場) and Wuling Farm (武陵農場) in Taichung County, should be relocated to maintain land resources in the central mountain range.
Despite being one of the founding members of the DPP, critics have questioned Fan's loyalty to the party because of his close ties to the KMT.
In 1996, when former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) established his local campaign headquarters in Hsinchu County, Fan, a senior DPP heavyweight, openly pledged his support to the KMT in the country's first presidential election.
In 1999, Fan decided to support independent president candidate, former DPP chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (
At the time, Fan criticized the DPP for not showing enough interest in him after he handed over the leadership of Hsinchu County in 1997. Although Fan served as a member of the Hakka Commission (客家委員會) in June 2000, he was not given a position of national policy advisor by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) until last year.
In the year-end elections, Fan gave his full support to DPP candidate Lin Kuang-hua (林光華), who was re-elected Hsinchu County commissioner.
Last December, Fan was appointed Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council Speaker.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS