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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS