Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co’s board dismissing general manager Wu Yin-ning (吳音寧) had nothing to do with him.
Wu was embroiled in several controversies earlier this year, was repeatedly called unqualified for the job by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) city councilors and was criticized by Ko over her refusal to report to the Taipei City Council.
She was backed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members and the Council of Agriculture (COA), which appointed her in June last year.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
However, after the DPP suffered crushing losses in the nine-in-one elections last Saturday, COA Minister Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) on Wednesday said that “Wu’s task for this stage is finished,” and the COA introduced a motion at a company board meeting on Thursday to dismiss Wu, which passed and took immediate effect.
The move was viewed by many as the DPP extending an olive branch to Ko, whom the party did not support for re-election.
In response to media queries, Ko said that Wu’s dismissal was none of his business, and he had already made it clear that it was up to the COA to pick a suitable person for the job.
DPP city councilors previously insisted that then-company general manager Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) report to the city council, Ko said, adding that KMT city councilors therefore applied the same standards to Wu.
He added that he told Wu and the COA that she must report to the city council, but she refused, and her dismissal is an instance of the DPP dealing with its own problems.
KMT Taipei city councilor-elect Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) wrote on Facebook that the COA dismissing Wu was merciless and the DPP was “treating symptoms, rather than addressing fundamental problems” by randomly looking for people to blame after the elections.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner