Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday announced the appointment of New Party member and sociology professor Timothy Ting (丁庭宇) as third Taipei deputy mayor and said he expected Ting to help with policymaking in educational, cultural and social welfare fields.
The appointment of Ting, 57, comes after Hau’s previous choice, former Taipei City secretary-general Yang Hsi-an (楊錫安), declined to take up the post because of the controversy surrounding his possible link to the Xinsheng Overpass scandal.
Yang is alleged to have abused his powers during the April 2008 bidding process for reconstruction of a portion of the Xinsheng Overpass. It was later determined that the city paid far more than it should have for the project.
Photo: Chen Ching-min, Taipei Times
Taipei prosecutors filed charges against Yang last year and he was removed from his secretary-general post.
Yang’s decision to decline the appointment on Aug 1 came as a surprise because Hau had repeatedly defended the appointment and his belief in Yang’s innocence.
Introducing Ting to the press at his office, Hau described him as an old friend who had been one of his personal advisers when he was first elected as a legislator and who had participated in the planning of municipal policies. These included the Tamsui River cleanup project and direct flights between Songshan Airport in Taipei and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport.
“More importantly, Mr Ting is expert on polling and he can help our team have a better understanding of public opinions, so that municipal policies will meet the expectations of Taipei residents,” Hau said.
Ting has also worked as a political commentator and once served as an adviser to Gallup Market Research Corp in Taiwan.
Ting said Hau had offered him the job on Monday and he was confident he could immediately start helping the mayor with municipal affairs.
“I was surprised and flattered by Mayor Hau’s invitation ... This position is more challenging than my previous jobs as a professor and an advisor to Gallup, and I am confident that I do the job well,” he said.
Ting will formally assume office as third Taipei deputy mayor on Tuesday.
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
RSS