Fighting allegations that he neglected his public duties and had an affair with his secretary, Ho Hung-jung (
Wang accused Ho on Tuesday of being absent from work earlier this month when Typhoon Khanun threatened the nation -- a time at which Ho would normally have been manning the city's disaster command center -- because he was on vacation with his secretary in Bali. The charges drew a firestorm of media attention and rocked the city government.
Accompanied by his wife and staff members, Ho announced his resignation yesterday morning, while stressing that he was only doing so in order to protect his family and the city government's reputations.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
"I did nothing wrong," Ho said at a press conference yesterday. "But Wang's accusations have already hurt my family and affected the city government's reputation, so I decided to turn in my resignation."
Ho acknowledged that he did go to Bali with his secretary, surnamed Chang, but Ho denied that he and Chang stayed in the same room. He also said that his staff applied for leave for him.
Ho's wife Lin Wen-shu (
"I trust my husband 100 percent. How can you ask him to prove something he never did? If people can just accuse anyone without proof, then there is no justice in society," she said.
The bureau's human resources department chief, Feng Ai-weng (馮艾雯), also defended Ho, saying that Ho followed standard procedure in asking for leave.
Ho filed a lawsuit against Wang for slandering him in the Taipei District Court in the afternoon. Wang filed a countersuit, saying that Ho had brought a false charge against him. The two encountered each other at the court at the same time, and Ho's wife angrily told Wang not to hurt her family with groundless accusations.
But Wang was unmoved.
"Apparently Ho is clueless about the mistakes he has made," Wang said. "Instead of eating crow and re-examining himself, he blames the disclosure of the matter on me." Wang said that he is not interested in, nor is he responsible for, Ho's personal life. His criticism against Ho is purely related to his performance in the public sphere, he said.
Wang said that he learned of the matter about 10 days ago but did not release the information until Tuesday. He never mentioned the name of Ho's secretary, but only questioned why Ho conducted a "business" trip with his secretary to a resort island at a time when he should have been overseeing the city's response to Typhoon Khanun.
Although Ho said he would resign from his post immediately after the rumor came out, the controversial issue spread to the Taipei City Council, with both pan-blue and pan-green city councilors questioning Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilor Hsu Chia-ching (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) councilor Chin Li-fang (秦儷舫) asked Ma to pay more attention to internal problems in the city government.
"The city government lost an experienced talent because of this scandal. I think Mayor Ma should find out whether some kind of internal conflict in the city government is behind the accusation," she said.
Ma reiterated his support for Ho, insisting that Ho followed procedure when applying for leave.
"As to things in the private realm, I will leave him to solve those issues himself and respect his decision," Ma added.
Ho's resignation went into effect immediately yesterday. Deputy chief Chong Ze-liang (鍾則良) will take over as the acting chief of the bureau.
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard