The value of New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) assets grew by NT$7.5 million (US$251,200) from 2012 to last year, according to the Control Yuan’s latest report on county commissioners and mayors’ asset declarations.
The report, released yesterday, showed that as of November last year, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Chu had NT$97.4 million in savings, securities and 11 plots of land in Taipei, Taoyuan County and Greater Tainan, as well as three homes in Taipei’s Shilin (士林) and Neihu (內湖) districts worth more than NT$100 million.
Chu’s declaration last year showed a NT$7.5 million increase compared with his 2012 declaration.
The mayor’s two minor children, Chu Hsuan-yu (朱宣宇) and Chu Yueh-ai (朱約嬡), each had more than NT$17 million in savings and securities.
Chu Hsuan-yu had NT$6.73 million in savings and almost NT$11 million worth of securities, while Chu Yueh-ai had about the same in securities and NT$6.63 million in savings.
The four members of the Chu family, including his wife, Kao Wan-chien (高婉倩), had combined savings of NT$23.5 million, the report shows.
Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚), also of the KMT, also appears to have done well from 2012 and 2013.
As of November last year, Wu’s family owned 12 plots of land and 47 homes, mostly in Taoyuan County and some in Taipei.
The properties were registered under the names of Wu, his wife Hung Hsiu-hua (洪秀華) and their three children.
The commissioner also held securities worth NT$21.9 million and had NT$25.6 million in savings.
In 2012, Wu declared savings of NT$17.7 million and securities worth NT$23.9 million. The number of homes and plots of land were the same as last year.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan