President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday presented former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) with the Order of the Brilliant Star medal.
On accepting the award at the Presidential Office, Lo thanked the president for giving him the opportunity to join his team and participate in public affairs, but declined to say whether he will work for Ma in the future.
Lo resigned from his post in September in the wake of allegations of improper lobbying made against Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and said he will not run in the Keelung mayoral election.
Following his resignation, Lo continued his criticism of Wang’s alleged improper lobbying on Facebook, while using his page to defend Ma’s policies.
The Presidential Office yesterday dismissed concerns that the medal was to reward Lo for criticizing Wang, and said such medals have been given to almost every top official at the Presidential Office.
Lo was presented with the honor for his achievements in enhancing the office’s communication with the media and explaining government policies, as well as planning the president’s diplomatic visits, the Presidential Office said.
Ma did not comment on Lo’s medal, but the Presidential Office and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have softened their stances on the issue of Wang’s party membership. As the KMT chairman, Ma agreed on Wednesday that the dispute over Wang’s membership should be handled within the party.
Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) yesterday dismissed allegations that Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), Ma’s top aide, will soon take over as secretary-general to try to turn around domestic affairs amid Ma’s record-low approval rate.
She said the Presidential Office does not know where such allegations came from.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
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
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