Control Yuan member Chou Yang-shan (周陽山) yesterday said via his assistant that he had no intention of resigning, dismissing media reports that he had indicated his intent to quit following an investigation by the Control Yuan that placed the performance of Taiwan’s former representative to Singapore Vanessa Shih (史亞平) under intense scrutiny.
Chou “will serve out his term at the Control Yuan,” Chou’s assistant said by telephone yesterday in response to a report by the Chinese-language United Daily, which said he planned to quit because of the case. Chou was unavailable for a comment.
The newspaper reported that Chou said he would quit at a meeting of the Control Yuan’s Committee on Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs last Wednesday.
It was at that meeting that a majority of Control Yuan members upheld an earlier decision that the results of an investigation led by Chou into Shih’s performance in Singapore should remain classified.
partial disclosure
Control Yuan member Lee Ping-nan (李炳南), who attended the meeting, said Chou made several attempts to push for partial disclosure of the report to counter claims of “abuse of power” on his part in handling the case. However, most Control Yuan members were of the opinion that the sensitive nature of information in the report warranted classification.
report
Chou, in conjunction with Control Yuan member Ma Yi-kung (馬以工), concluded in their report that Shih was responsible for “serious dereliction of duty” in her dealings with the Singaporean government during her term, which ran from January 2009 to late February, while former division chief Chang Shih-jui (張詩瑞) at Taipei’s Representative Office in Singapore committed a “major violation of law” by failing to cooperate with their investigation.
The United Daily News reported on Wednesday last week that the only reason Chou charged Shih with dereliction of duty was the failure of office staff to attend a centennial commemoration of the Hsinhai Revolution last year.
revenge
That led to accusations that Chou was not impartial over the investigations and some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers even accused him of launching the investigation as an act of revenge over a personal slight, after Chou reportedly did not treat him in the way he had expected during a visit to Singapore.
partial disclosure
Asked to verify the authenticity of the content disclosed in the United Daily News report, Lee said that the newspaper only had “part of the full Control Yuan report,” which is 30 to 40 pages in length.
He also said that there were clear discrepancies between the story reported in the newspaper and the content of the Control Yuan report.
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’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
Japanese Councilor Hei Seki (石平) on Wednesday said that he plans to visit Taiwan, saying that would “prove that Taiwan is an independent country and does not belong to China.” Seki, a member of the Japan Innovation Party, was born in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province and became a naturalized Japanese in 2007. He was elected to the House of Concilors last year. His views on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — espoused in a series of books on politics and history — prompted Beijing to sanction him, including barring Seki from traveling to China. Seki wrote on X that he intends
RSS