Kaohsiung City Councilor Yang Ming-jou (楊明州) yesterday took the helm as Kaohsiung acting mayor, stepping into the vacancy left by the recall of former mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
Yang, who was appointed by the Executive Yuan on Friday after the Central Election Commission officially confirmed Han’s recall, took the oath of office with Cabinet Secretary-General Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) acting as witness.
Yang, who served as deputy mayor under former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), is to remain in the post until the city chooses a new mayor in an Aug. 15 by-election.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
The 64-year-old Yang has been working for the Kaohsiung City Government since 1984. After Han became mayor in December 2018, he appointed Yang to be the city’s secretary-general. Yang served in the post for eight months before being reassigned as a councilor.
Although he would fill the mayoral post for only about two months, Yang said that he would do his best, adding that he would coordinate with colleagues to mitigate flood damage in the upcoming typhoon season.
His administration would continue to carry out public work projects in the city, as any delay to infrastructure improvements just because of a reshuffle in the city government would be unacceptable, Yang added.
Han, of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), became the first mayor in Taiwan to be recalled.
On June 6, 939,090 Kaohsiung voters cast their ballots in favor of his removal — a much higher total than the 574,996 required, the legal threshold representing 25 percent of Kaohsiung’s eligible voters.
Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) has emerged as has emerged as the DPP’s favored candidate for the by-election.
The Taiwan People’s Party is reportedly considering some form of cooperation with the KMT in the by-election, although it said that it remains open to other options.
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
RSS