Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) yesterday shrugged off rumors that he has been tapped to serve as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) secretary-general, saying that taking up a position inside a political party is not part of his life plan.
Chen made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee in Taipei in response to reporters’ questions over whether KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) has contacted him about the secretary-general post.
“I have yet to receive Hung’s telephone call, but it is my plan to simply be a happy citizen after I retire from public service,” said Chen, a KMT member who has served as the Executive Yuan’s secretary-general, deputy mayor of Taipei and deputy head of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
When pressed on the issue, Chen said it is not part of his life plan to assume an administrative role inside the party.
Speculation has been rising about the lineup of Hung’s future party cadres after she held off announcing some of the names of the party’s key officials.
So far, only 11 names have been made public, seven of whom have been designated as KMT deputy secretaries-general, including former KMT legislators Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), former Pingtung County Councilor Yeh Shou-shan (葉壽山), Taitung County Council Speaker Rao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), Chiayi City Council Speaker Hsiao Shu-li (蕭淑麗), KMT deputy caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) and National Development Council special assistant Chang Ya-ping (張雅屏).
Chang has also been appointed to head the KMT’s Organization and Development Committee.
In addition, Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) is to serve as the deputy director-general of the party’s Culture and Communication Committee, while Junior Chamber International Executive Vice President Sean Chang (張淵翔) — the son of former Keelung mayor Chang Tung-jung (張通榮) — is to take the helm of the KMT’s Youth Department.
Former director of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Government Ethics Department, Chen Hang-sheng (陳杭升), and 567 Alliance Convener Lee Fu-chuan (李福軒) have been appointed to serve as the head and deputy head of the KMT’s Administration and Management Committee respectively.
New Taipei City Councilor Chen Yi-chun (陳儀君) is designated director of the party’s Women’s Department.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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