A possible personnel reshuffle could be in store at the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) by the end of this month, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said yesterday.
Hsieh told reporters he learned of the potential reshuffle after making several phone calls to verify an allegation made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯). Hsieh did not specify his sources.
CHINESE REQUEST
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday quoted Tsai as saying that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications had replaced CAA Deputy Director-General Lin Shinn-der (林信得) — the nation’s primary negotiator on cross-strait flight issues — with Wang Te-ho (王德和), another CAA deputy director-general, at the request of China during negotiations in May.
The report quoted Tsai as saying that China had been dissatisfied with Lin, who headed two similar meetings in Xiamen in December last year, calling him “uncooperative.”
GIVING HAU A HAND
The story said Taiwan agreed to change the negotiator because the government was in a hurry to help Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) with his election campaign by making direct flights between Taipei’s Songshan Airport and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport possible.
The story said officials from “high above” had asked the ministry to replace Lin and then CAA director-general Lee Long-wen (李龍文) allegedly told Lin to “take a break” and replaced him with Wang, who had never before participated in cross-strait negotiations.
Hsieh yesterday denied Tsai’s allegation and urged Tsai to present evidence to support his claim.
However, Hsieh said that as far as he knew, Lin had been replaced in preparation for a personnel reshuffle at the CAA following Lee’s resignation.
Lee stepped down on July 7, after Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport control center staff were accused by a lawmaker of unsuitable behavior that could have jeopardized the safety of air travelers.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching