Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) came under attack yesterday over a steep increase in his special allowance fund following the county's upgrading to the status of special municipality.
Quoting next year's budget plan presented by the Taipei County Government, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said at a news conference that Chou's special allowance fund next year would rise to NT$200,000 from NT$88,000 per month.
The new amount would be higher than that granted to many other senior government officials, despite the fact that Chou's approval ratings are among the lowest in the country, Lin said.
She said that most of the extra funds allocated to the Taipei County Government following the upgrade on Oct. 1 would go straight into Chou's pockets.
Referring to a recent ruling by the Taipei District Court in former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (
Lin said Chou's monthly special allowance of NT$200,000 was even higher than that of the vice president and heads of the Legislative, Executive, Control and Examination yuans, as well as that of the heads of central government ministries.
"Has the Taipei County government invested enough resources in education and policing?" she asked.
"If not, then why has the commissioner decided to increase his own special allowance fund?" she said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
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