Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan city councilors lashed out at Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) yesterday over his refusal to attend council meetings, and decided to refer him to the Control Yuan for impeachment.
Following Tainan Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao’s (李全教) indictment early last month over vote-buying, Lai vowed that he would boycott all council meetings as long as Lee remains in his position.
“The city council can make concessions to the mayor, but there are limits as to how much compromise we can make, and I believe we have done everything we legally can,” Lee said at a news conference outside the extraordinary session of the city council. “There are laws to sanction Lai if he refuses to attend sessions of the city council.He should not try to dodge his obligation of being monitored by the city council.”
Photo: CNA
However, KMT City Councilor Wan Chia-chen (王家貞) said that if Lai has an “imperial dream,” he should just resign and announce his bid for president.
KMT City Councilor Lin Mei-yen (林美燕), condemned Lai as a “runaway mayor.”
KMT City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介), echoed Lee’s comments by proposing a motion to refer the mayor as well as all city officials who were absent during the meeting for impeachment by the Control Yuan.
As only KMT councilors attended the meeting, the motion was passed.
Despite the city council decision to refer him to the Control Yuan, Lai insisted on continuing his boycott.
“Despite the criticism, I will not walk into the city council as long as the legal problems surrounding Lee are unresolved,” Lai said in a separate setting. “My intention is to launch a reform on local politics in Taiwan, let the light shine in, and completely wipe out money politics.”
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS