Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will face questioning by the Control Yuan over a scandal involving former city government spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), who is suspected of accepting an advertiser's offer to run his legislative campaign advertisements on a city-funded electronic billboard.
Wu, who was nominated by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to run for a legislative seat in December, was accused by several Democratic Progressive Party city councilors last month of tacitly agreeing to allow an advertising agency to run campaign ads for him on a publicly funded electronic billboard located on the intersection of Zhongxiao East Road and Jilong Road.
The city's Department of Information paid NT$930,000 per year since 2001 to Ho-Feng Enterprises (
After Wu released the news that he would contend for a legislative seat, the electronic billboard began showing Wu's campaign ads with a Department of Information title.
At that time, Wu was still serving as the city government spokesman and the director of the information department.
The Anti-Corruption Committee of the Control Yuan assigned investigative members Lee Shen-yi (
This will be the first case that the Control Yuan has investigated under the Political Donations Law (
The law bans candidates from accepting any donations before they open a special account, which they must use for all political donations.
Control Yuan members will also investigate Ma to find out whether he failed to fulfill his responsibility of supervision, since the mayor gave Wu only a verbal warning at the time that the scandal broke.
Ma said yesterday that he will try to coordinate with the investigators, and said he will answer each question "according to the truth."
Ma added that he always took a respectful attitude towards investigations by the Control Yuan.
Wu said yesterday that he welcomed the investigation. because it was the best way for him to prove his innocence, saying that the advertising agency ran the campaign ads for him without notifying him and that he had nothing to do with corruption.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
NOT AN OPENING: Trump’s violation of international law does not affect China’s consideration in attacking Taiwan; Beijing lacks capability, not precedent, an official said Taiwanese officials see the US’ capture of the president of Venezuela as a powerful deterrent to Beijing’s aggression and a timely reminder of the US’ ability to defeat militaries equipped with Chinese-made weapons. The strikes that toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signaled to authoritarian leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), US President Donald Trump’s willingness to use military might for international affairs core to US interests, one senior official in Taipei’s security circle said. That reassured Taiwan, the person said. Taipei has also dismissed the idea that Trump’s apparent violation of international law could embolden Beijing, said the official, who was not
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
Snow this morning fell on Alishan for the first time in seven years, as a strong continental cold air mass sent temperatures plunging across Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The Alishan weather station, located at an elevation of about 2,200m in central Taiwan, recorded snowfall from 8:55am to 9:15am, when the temperature dropped to about 1°C, the CWA said. With increased moisture and low temperatures in the high-altitude Alishan area, the conditions were favorable for snow, CWA forecaster Tsai Yi-chi (蔡伊其) said. The last time snow fell at the Alishan weather station was on Jan. 10, 2018, while graupel fell there
RSS