One of two public welfare foundations established by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The Dwen An Social Welfare Foundation was established by Ma with the New Taiwanese Cultural Foundation using more than NT$47 million (US$1.4 million) in mayoral election subsidies.
"The foundation has dedicated itself to providing welfare services over the past few years, but its aim was misunderstood for political reasons ... Ma never interfered with the foundation's matters, even after making donations to found the organization," Steven Chen (陳士魁), director of the foundation, said yesterday at the foundation, whose mandate is to provide counseling to teenagers.
Putting records of donations made by Ma and his wife Chou Mei-chin (
Chou, who serves as a member of the board of directors, has donated a total of NT$2.6 million since 2000, Chen said, denying Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators' accusations that Ma had pocketed the subsidies by making donations to his own foundation through his wife.
"None of the members of the board of directors got paid. Instead, their main duty is to make donations to the foundation so that we can survive," he said.
In addition to Chou, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing chairman Morris Chang (
In response to DPP Taipei City Councilor Lee Wen-ying's (
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
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