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.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
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