The Executive Yuan has selected former Kaohsiung City Government secretary-general Yang Ming-jou (楊明州) as Kaohsiung acting mayor, sources with knowledge of the matter said yesterday.
Yang, an independent, was chosen due to his vast experience in handling municipal affairs and because he was not affiliated with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the sources said.
Yang was acceptable to the pan-blue and pan-green camps, easing tensions in preparation for a Kaohsiung mayoral by-election after Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) was recalled on Saturday last week, they said.
Photo: Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
With the typhoon season approaching, Yang has the experience to facilitate rescue and flood relief missions, they said.
His experience in municipal affairs also makes him an ideal acting mayor as the Kaohsiung City Council begins a month-long intensive question-and-answer session on Friday next week, they added.
Yang, who has served in the Kaohsiung City Government for 36 years, started his career as an engineer at the city’s Public Works Bureau, before moving up the ranks to become head of the bureau and later deputy mayor under former Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu (陳菊).
After Han took office on Dec. 25, 2018, Yang was transferred to the post of Kaohsiung City Government secretary-general, before being demoted to his current position as city government counselor.
Asked to comment on the purported appointment, Yang said that a civil servant cannot choose his “battlefield,” and that he would respect his superiors’ decision.
In related developments, DPP Kaohsiung City Councilor Kao Min-lin (高閔琳) on Wednesday said that she would not support DPP Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) becoming acting mayor.
Chen Chi-mai, a popular candidate for the post, would likely join the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election in three months, so it would create a conflict of interest if he was appointed acting mayor, Kao said.
Appointing Chen Chi-mai, who lost to Han in the 2018 Kaohsiung mayoral election, would further aggravate Han’s supporters and give the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) an excuse to deepen rifts in society, she said.
The DPP seems to have arrived at a consensus to back Chen Chi-mai in the by-election, so it should give him time to focus on his campaign rather than taking on a role likely preoccupied with floods, she added.
SOLVED: Domestic orders have already overtaken the total sold to China last year, while the Canadian and US representative offices posted messages of support A joint effort by groups and individuals in Taiwan and abroad to prop up sales of pineapples after China announced a ban on imports of the fruit succeeded in just four days, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday. China on Friday announced that it would suspend imports of Taiwanese pineapples starting on Monday, citing biosafety concerns. Following the announcement, the council urged the public to assist farmers by purchasing pineapples, saying it hoped to sell 20,000 tonnes of the fruit domestically and 30,000 tonnes in exports. “Domestic orders have already surpassed the total sold to China last year,” COA Minister
Taiwanese netizens and politicians yesterday mocked a Chinese plan to build a transportation network linking Beijing and Taipei, calling it “science fiction” and “daydreaming.” Their comments were in reaction to the Chinese State Council’s release last week of its “Guidelines on the National Comprehensive Transportation Network Plan,” which include several proposed transportation links, with one map showing a line running from China’s Jingjinji Metropolitan Region (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) across the Taiwan Strait to Taipei. “This is the Chinese leadership daydreaming again of [fulfilling its] fantasy of extending China’s transportation network to Taiwan. I suggest people regard it as science fiction,” Democratic Progressive
‘UNITED FRONT’: Grooming young Taiwanese to become Internet celebrities or hosts is a Chinese tactic to spread propaganda to influence young people, a source said As part of its “united front” tactics, China has been grooming young Taiwanese to become Internet celebrities or Internet program hosts, a source said on condition of anonymity. Over the past year, about 1,000 Taiwanese living in China have participated in training programs and competitions for show hosts held in several cities, including Xiamen, Wenzhou and Hangzhou, the source said on Saturday. “Beijing is taking advantage of the openness of the Internet to spread propaganda about acceptance of China, and about ‘national security,’” the source said, adding that Taiwan’s national security officials are racing to fix the problem. Chinese infiltration of
MAIN CHALLENGE: The US naval commander warned that China would seek to ‘forcibly change’ the balance of power in the region that would likely be permanent The US encourages Taiwan to invest in defense and obtain asymmetric defense capabilities, US Navy Admiral Philip Davidson said on Thursday. Davidson, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, made the remark in a videoconference on defense matters hosted by the American Enterprise Institute think tank. “China is positioned to achieve overmatch” in its military capability by 2026, he said. When Beijing is able to, it would “likely choose to forcibly change” the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region, “and I would say the change in that status quo could be permanent,” he said. “China seeks a new world order, one with Chinese characteristics,
RSS