Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) last night announced his decision to quit the post.
In a brief statement, he said he decided to leave the post as he has “completed the mission assigned for this phase.”
Earlier yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) dismissed a media report that Chan would quit over her disavowal of an administrative contract that he secured from Ill-gotten Party Assets Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄), which was said to be fully authorized by Hung, but which she later refused to sign.
The Chinese-language China Times published an exclusive report yesterday saying that Chan, who is in San Francisco, told its reporter that he felt “discontented and puzzled” when Hung told the media on Sunday last week that “nobody had supported the signing of an administrative contract with the committee except Chan.”
Chan told the newspaper that he was not alone in the many meetings and negotiations with Koo, as “people from Hung’s circle” were also there.
“If those around Hung had a different opinion, they should have spoken up during the negotiations, but no, they chose to say something different from what was agreed only afterward,” Chan was quoted as saying.
Chan was reportedly not pleased about Hung’s disclosure of the internal party discussion about the negotiations, saying the handling of the controversy “was extremely unwise.”
He said that he suspected someone from the party “deliberately fed the media with what was agreed during the negotiations, for a specific purpose.”
Hung’s handling of the issue was also heavily criticized by Chan.
“If the decision not to sign [the administrative contract with the committee] was right, then those who talked [Hung] out of signing it should shoulder the responsibility and consequences it might incur, rather than passing the buck to me,” he was quoted as saying.
The China Times said Chan would likely quit as the party’s vice chairman, as he said he would “do what [he] should do.”
In Taipei yesterday, Hung said Chan is “awfully important” to her and dismissed the report, asking the media not to “maliciously drive a wedge” between her and Chan.
Local media outlets first reported in the middle of last month that the committee and Chan, representing the KMT, had agreed to sign an administrative contract that would allow the handover of the party’s shares in Central Investment Co and its subsidiary Hsinyutai to the state, even though 45 percent of the shares would have to be transferred in the form of a donation.
The contract also had provisions concerning what would be done with the funds from the disposal of Central Investment Co’s assets.
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
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and