Former New Taipei City deputy mayor Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢) late on Saturday declined President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) nomination to be a member of the Control Yuan amid criticism that he was impeached by the Control Yuan a decade ago and was therefore unsuitable for the job.
The Presidential Office said that it respected his decision.
Chen, who served as director-general of the Water Resources Agency from 2003 to 2009, was impeached by the Control Yuan in December 2008 for his “flawed supervision” of the Dajia River (大甲溪), which they said caused the Houfeng Bridge (后豐橋) to collapse in a typhoon in September that year, leaving three people dead and three missing.
Citing Chen’s impeachment, New Power Party caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chi (邱顯智) said on Saturday that Chen was unsuitable to be a member of the government watchdog.
In response, Chen said that he was wrongly impeached, because the agency has no jurisdiction over the bridge’s construction and maintenance, which falls under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
He said that his innocence was proved by the Judicial Yuan’s Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission in 2010, after the commission decided not to punish him, despite his impeachment.
He withdrew from nomination because he did not want to see his wrongful impeachment resurface, Chen said, adding that he hoped his decision would put an end to the controversy surrounding his nomination.
Chen is the second person to decline their nomination, after former Taitung county commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) earlier on Saturday declined Tsai’s nomination to serve as Control Yuan vice president.
Huang announced his decision amid criticism across party lines over his support for a controversial resort development project in Taitung County that was opposed by local Aboriginal groups and allegations that he had received kickbacks, for which he was sentenced to five months in prison. The sentence was commuted to a fine in 2018.
Chen served as then-New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) deputy from 2014 to 2016.
Chu yesterday said that Chen was a diligent, highly acclaimed public servant and that it was unfair to bring up his impeachment again.
The former KMT chairman also said that Huang is an important asset to the party and that it should maintain cordial ties with him as he had declined the DPP’s nomination.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
RSS