Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday welcomed the news that Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) had appointed the principal of a prestigious Taipei high school as one of his deputies.
Hu’s announcement that he was appointing Taipei Jianguo High School principal Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) as deputy mayor took many by surprise.
Tsai has served as a division chief at the Ministry of Education and as the deputy commissioner of the Cultural Affairs Department in Taichung County. He was selected to be school principal in 2008.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
“I think Mayor Hu made an excellent choice and I am glad that principal Tsai has the opportunity to serve more people in his future position,” Hau said.
Taipei’s Department of Education will organize a selection committee to choose Tsai’s successor.
In contrast with the municipal team put together by Hu and Eric Chu (朱立倫), mayor-elect of New Taipei City (新北市, the proposed name of the upgraded Taipei County), Hau’s new administration was described by the local media as lacking impressive faces or refreshing choices.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said Hau’s new line-up was a “stale team” with only a few new members and little possibility of making impressive achievements during his second term.
However, Hau shrugged off the criticism, and said all of the officials had been picked for their administrative experience and expertise in their fields.
Hau announced his new administration lineup on Thursday, with seven new members joining the 37-member team.
Incoming Taipei deputy mayor Chen Wei-ren (陳威仁) is Ministry of Transportation and Communications administrative deputy minister, while the next commissioner of the city’s transportation department, Jason Lin (林志盈), is now the general manager of Taipei EasyCard Corp. Both served as department heads for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration when he was Taipei mayor.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group