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.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS