Kaohsiung Marine Bureau Director-General Wang Tuan-jen (王端仁) on Tuesday tendered his resignation following a leaked audio recording from October last year of him discussing the lease of Singda Harbor (興達港) to Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶富造船).
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) approved Wang’s resignation that evening.
The city spent a great deal of money to build Singda Harbor, Wang said in a statement, adding that the port’s underutilization and its coming under scrutiny by the Control Yuan have troubled him deeply.
As a result, he led the bureau to seek opportunities for work with the private sector so it would revitalize the harbor, Wang said.
Wang denied any wrongdoing, saying that the city did not sign a memorandum of understanding with Ching Fu to allow the shipbuilder use of the harbor, nor did it made any quid pro quo exchanges.
Chen on a late-night news program said that Wang submitted his resignation, which she granted immediately, adding that she believes in Wang’s integrity and innocence.
“I have considered this issue from the perspective of respecting his personal choices,” she said. “Wang’s comments in the recording were inappropriate, but the case is being investigated and he will have to wait for those results.”
“I hope people’s attention will return to the true matter at hand, which is the minesweeper scandal,” she added.
Singda Harbor cost about NT$7.5 billion (US$248 million at the current exchange rate) to build and its disuse is an issue that troubled the city deeply, which led to an aggressive search for industry partners, she said.
“Although Wang’s comments were inappropriate, there was no quid pro quo and I have deep faith in his integrity. I further state the city government’s abiding support for Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) vow to get to the bottom of this,” she said.
In a show of support, several DPP Kaohsiung City Councilors yesterday called a news conference to assert Wang’s innocence.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Cheng Kuang-feng (鄭光峰) said Wang went to the meeting with Ching Fu accompanied by six officials.
“If he had intended to discuss any illicit dealings, it does not make sense for him to go with that many officials,” Cheng said. “Wang was overzealous in trying to do a good job.”
The Fisheries Agency and Kaohsiung Marine Bureau were helping things along from the perspective of assisting the government’s domestic warships policy and revitalizing the harbor, he said.
That the city government’s resorting to open bidding for use of the harbor showed that there was no wrongdoing, he said.
DPP Kaohsiung City Councilor Kao Min-lin (高閔琳) said the Fisheries Agency is the harbor’s managing authority and Wang was representing the city’s views at the meeting.
“This is a smear campaign,” she said.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Lee Po-yi (李柏毅) said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians are attacking Wang to shift blame from a scandal that implicated former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
“The script for this mud-slinging is poorly written,” he added.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
RSS