Sinbei mayor-elect Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced yesterday that former national police chief Hou You-yi (侯友宜) will be one of his deputies, saying that the appointment is part of the administration’s resolve to ensure public safety.
The announcement was made six days before Chu is to be inaugurated as the first mayor of Sinbei City, an area that will be formally upgraded from a county into a special municipality on Saturday.
“Public safety is a foremost concern of the residents and Hou’s appointment is a clear indication that the mayor is determined to maintain social order in the city,” said Lin Chieh-yu (林芥佑), Chu’s spokesman.
Hou is a highly decorated and respected police officer who shot to fame a as result of his involvement in many high-profile cases, including the kidnapping and murder of a famous entertainer’s daughter.
In 2006, he was the youngest person in history to assume the position of director-general of the National Policy Agency, which was followed by his appointment as the head of Central Police University in 2008.
The two other deputy mayor positions will be filled by Deputy Taipei County Commissioner Lee Shu--chuan (李四川) and Deputy Finance Minister Hsu Chih-chien (許志堅).
Former Water Resources Agency director-general Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢) has been named as the city government’s secretary-general.
Chu also announced that the municipality’s official name in English would be “New Taipei City.”
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,