New Sports Administration Director-General Kao Chin-hsung (高俊雄) said he is confident that the Chinese Taipei Football Association would be able to complete its board members and overseers elections by Aug. 15.
The association has been plagued by internal disputes for about eight months and Kao’s predecessor Lin Te-fu (林德福) was unable to resolve them.
The stakeholders involved in the dispute all respect the National Sports Act (國民體育法) as well as instructions given by FIFA in its correspondence with the association, which is the main reason for his confidence, Kao told a news conference following his inauguration ceremony on Friday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
FIFA wanted the association to hold a board meeting to determine the status of five of its members whose qualifications are in question, Kao said, adding that he personally examined the FIFA letter, which was dated June 27.
The Sports Administration has consulted legal experts at the Ministry of the Interior, who said that the sports body can intervene in the association’s internal operations, given the situation, he said.
“It is my understanding that the association will soon hold the elections for board members and overseers and convene the meeting for all members, as requested by the Sports Administration and FIFA,” Kao said.
If the association chairman deliberately delays enforcing any of the procedures, members of the board could convene a meeting for all members if they have gathered signatures for their proposal, based on the association’s rules, Kao said.
Asked if he intends to continue the soccer development plan launched by his predecessor, Kao said the Executive Yuan listed it as a key project, which must be enforced.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) has said that the nation would spend the next 10 years investing resources and training soccer players, Kao said, adding that his agency would seek opinions from experts on how it should execute the plan to achieve optimal success.
His first task as the director-general is to prepare the national team’s athletes and coaches for the Asian Games in Jakarta next month, Kao said, adding the government is ready to give them its full support.
Not only will the government charter flights to transport the athletes, it will lease apartments near the game venues for athletes to stay during the games, Kao said, adding that this would ensure that athletes would not spend too much time commuting between the athletes’ village and their sporting venues.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS