Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has approved Taipei Department of Tourism and Information Commissioner Chien Yu-yen’s (簡余晏) resignation and the vacancy is to be filled by city government deputy spokesperson Chen Hsi-yu (陳思宇), Taipei Deputy Mayor Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) said yesterday.
Chien informed Ko of her intention to resign on Monday last week and confirmed it to the media the next day, saying she was exhausted and wanted to “get some rest.”
Ko reportedly asked Chen Chin-jun to persuade her to stay.
However, Chien on Monday said on the city government’s head of departments Line group that she would resign.
“Thank you mayor and all seniors and partners for the care you have shown me throughout the years. Thank you many times,” she wrote.
She then quit all work social media lists and cleared out her office.
An anonymous department head told the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday that Ko was unhappy when he was told that the tourism department had not signed a contract with the winning bidder to organize the upcoming Taipei Lantern Festival.
Ko instructed Chen Chin-jun to take over supervising the festival and criticized Chien for “abandoning her post and fleeing,” the report said.
Chen Chin-jun said Ko was unhappy about how Chien handled the event, but that Ko might have made the remark in a fit of anger, because Chien did not complete the project.
Chien said she was determined to leave, so he forward her resignation letter to Ko for his final approval in the morning, Chen Chin-jun said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai