Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), yesterday in a letter to TPP members shared his thoughts following an alleged extramarital affair involving two party members.
The party on Wednesday expelled Taipei Culture Foundation deputy chief executive Chang Yi-san (張益贍), who was allegedly having an extramarital affair with TPP caucus assistant Tsai Yi-fang (蔡宜芳).
The party in a statement said that Chang was expelled because it had evidence of him discussing “negative campaign strategies” with a representative of another political party “without the authorization of the TPP.”
Photo courtesy of Taiwan People’s Party
Chang in a separate statement said that he would resign his post at the foundation after a magazine published photographs of him being intimate with Tsai during office hours.
“I told the media that I was shocked when I first heard the news and the shock slowly turned into anger. However, two days later, when I thought about it more calmly, I felt ashamed for the most part,” Ko said in the letter, which the party said was sent only to its members and not published on social media.
Chang was competent at his foundation post, which requires skills in public relations, coordination and keeping up with the latest trends in society, Ko said.
As the public questioned the foundation’s attendance management and use of funds, Ko said that he has demanded that the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the foundation, submit a review report, adding that he would in two weeks explain how the foundation plans to address the matter.
The party would also lay out clearer rules to regulate personal conduct in the public and private domains, Ko said.
Noting that many party members think that Tsai, who was stripped of party membership rights for one year, received a light punishment, Ko said that the TPP needs to shoulder part of the responsibility, as younger members know less about the boundaries for politicians.
“My aides have been constantly reminding me over the past year that I am losing fans, with some of them even becoming my haters. For that, I will reflect deeply on myself. I will continue to build better systems for the party and never stop changing Taiwan’s political culture,” Ko added.
Ko ended the letter with his pet phrase: “Fill your mind with virtuous intentions and do everything with all your strength.”
It is evident that some party members and fans are dissatisfied with the party’s handling of the incidents, so Ko hopes to boost morale and communicate more with them via the open letter, TPP spokesperson Ke Yu-an (柯昱安) said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened 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), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS