Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday demanded that the Control Yuan investigate alleged violations of administrative neutrality involving the vice president of the government watchdog over his participation in campaign activities for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
“The Control Yuan should impeach [Control Yuan] Vice President Chen Jinn-lih (陳進利) and suspend him from his duties immediately,” DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said, adding that the caucus had filed a complaint with the Control Yuan over alleged irregularities involving Chen.
In its latest issue, published yesterday, Next Magazine alleged that Chen has served in an association formed to support Ma and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), in the Jan. 14 presidential election since Nov. 23.
The magazine alleged that Chen and Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) visited an office on Nanjing E Road in Taipei, where the Support Ma-Wu Association is located, at noon on Nov. 23 to join discussions related to the election.
In a telephone interview with the Taipei Times, Chen denied any involvement in the association, but admitted that he went to the office on that day in his capacity as a member of the Chinese Tempered Golf Association (CTGA).
“The CTGA serves as the primary base of the Support Ma-Wu Association. I have been a long-term member of the CTGA, but I was never involved in the support group,” Chen said.
The visit he made to the office was one of many gatherings involving CTGA members, Chen said.
“We were talking about how to train more young golfers to become like Yani Tseng (曾雅妮). When the election topic was brought up, I decided to leave early,” he said.
Chen and Wu Ching-ji were reportedly behind the decision to invite Cao Guoyang (曹國揚), a Chinese businessman, to be vice chairman of the Support Ma-Wu Association, the report said.
The magazine quoted Chen and Wu as saying in an article published by Xinhua on Dec. 9 that they hoped the Support Ma-Wu Association could solicit support for the Ma-Wu ticket from China-based Taiwanese businesspeople with Cao’s help.
“Cao will be in charge of campaign literature for Ma Ying-jeou in 24 provinces, including Fujian, -Jiangxi ... to direct Taiwanese investments to support the [so-called] 1992 consensus ... and to encourage them to support [the] Ma-Wu [ticket] as the next leaders of [the] Taiwan area,” Xinhua reported.
Chen told the Taipei Times he did not know Cao.
In a press statement last night, Chen demanded that the magazine print a correction and said he reserved the right to take legal action against the publication.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
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Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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