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.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,