Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday called on the directors of Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co to promptly elect a new president to prevent damage to the firm’s reputation amid soaring produce prices.
Ko made the comment in response to reporters’ queries when inspecting a long-term care program the Taipei Department of Health has implemented at the Lanzhou housing complex in Datong District (大同).
Asked to clarify a remark he made on Wednesday about the firm having “broken a promise,” Ko said that directors from different backgrounds should put aside their differences and end the infighting that has delayed the election of a new president.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“The company was established to ensure that consumers could buy high-quality produce at reasonable prices. With vegetable prices rising nationwide, [the directors] should waste no time in electing a new president and general manager,” Ko said, adding that he was “very upset” that the company failed to elect a new president on Wednesday.
“I own the company’s premises. I signed you up to run the company on the city government’s behalf, not to engage in an internal power play,” he said.
The firm elected three new directors on Wednesday, but failed to elect a new president, with the Taipei City Government, the Council of Agriculture and the “Chang faction” each securing one seat on the board.
The Chang faction refers to board members affiliated with former Yunlin County commissioner Chang Jung-wei (張榮味) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who has strong ties with farmers’ associations in central Taiwan that provide produce for the company.
The company’s funding comes from a mix of public and private sources, with the Taipei City Government and the Council of Agriculture together contributing 45.5 percent and the Taiwan Provincial Fruit Marketing Cooperative, farmers’ associations and vegetable growers providing the rest.
As the president, who chairs the board meetings, nominates the firm’s general manager, who directly oversees the company’s operations, Ko and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had reportedly engineered a plan to remove general manager Hau Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) by helping director Lin Chiu-hui (林秋慧) get elected president.
However, as Ko and the DPP only secured two seats on the seven-member board in Wednesday’s election, Lin’s chances of being elected president are now uncertain.
Asked to respond to Lin’s comment that said if she were elected president, she would not nominate a new general manager and would let Han complete his term, Ko said that it was Lin’s personal opinion.
“My one demand is that the company settle its staffing issues as soon as possible. Do not allow internal politics to affect people’s livelihoods,” Ko said.
Ko said that he would meet with Council of Agriculture Minister Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) to discuss their strategy regarding the company.
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
The Supreme Court today rejected an appeal filed by former Air Force officer Shih Chun-cheng (史濬程), convicted of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage, finalizing his sentence at two years and two months for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法). His other ruling, a ten-month sentence for an additional contravention, was meanwhile overturned and sent to the Taichung branch of the High Court for retrial, the Supreme Court said today. Prosecutors have been notified as Shih is considered a flight risk. Shih was recruited by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence officials after his retirement in 2008 and appointed as a supervisor
RSS