The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday accused New Taipei City (新北) Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of potential corruption and his wife of receiving benefits from illegal public bids involving companies owned by her father.
The new accusations came one day after the TSU accused Chu and his father-in-law, Kao Yu-jen (高育仁), of violating the Act on Recusal of Public Servants Due to Conflicts of Interest (公務人員利益衝突迴避法) because the Kao family had secured government projects worth almost NT$1.2 billion (US$40 million) over the past 12 years while Chu served as Taoyuan County commissioner, vice premier and New Taipei City mayor.
According to the TSU, FiberLogic Communications, a technology firm that Kao established in 1999, won 12 government bids — including five limited tenders — totaling NT$1.18 billion between 2001 and last year, which could constitute a conflict of interest.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Chu’s wife, Kao Wan-chien (高婉倩), has been a shareholder of FiberLogic and several companies that own FiberLogic stock for more than 10 years and served as supervisor for three shareholding companies, TSU Legislator Yeh Chin-ling (葉津鈴) said, citing a Control Yuan public servant property declaration report from 2012.
“Since Chu and his wife submitted the declaration together as spouses, Chu should have been aware of the investment. He could have also received benefits from those government bids as Kao Wan-ching’s husband,” TSU Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) said.
Chu said yesterday that he would not tolerate anyone in his family making illegal profits, but neither did he want any family member to be falsely accused because of his job.
Chu stressed that his property declaration report had been scrutinized by the Control Yuan and the media, and called the TSU allegation a “cheap shot.”
He did not elaborate on his wife’s and his father-in-law’s shareholdings.
On Monday, the New Taipei City Government said that the TSU’s accusation was a political ploy because Lin Chih-chia is mulling entering the city’s mayoral election in November.
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS