Presidential Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who has entered the race for the Demo-cratic Progressive Party's (DPP) vacant chairmanship, yesterday announced he would invite the director-general of the Cabinet's Central Personnel Administra-tion, Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), to be the party's secretary-general should he (Su) be elected as the party chairman.
Given that Su is the only candidate in the party contending for the chairmanship, he is certain to be elected as new chairman at the election slated to be held on Jan. 30.
Su yesterday said he had already reported to President Chen Shui-bian (
Lee had formerly served as Taipei City councilor, director of the Taipei City Government's Department of Civil Affairs, deputy minister of the Ministry of the Interior and director of the DPP's Information and Culture Department.
In the case known as the "Formosa magazine (蓬島雜誌) incident," Lee, then editor-in-chief of the publication, served prison time with Chen, who was the then director of the magazine, for "political crimes."
Noting Lee's extensive administrative experience in both government and party affairs, Su commended Lee as "a talent well-fitted for the role of the party's secretary-general."
"Although I have not worked with Lee in the past, I have, however, on many occasions and events met him before and I admire his performance in his fields of expertise," Su said, adding that the president also held Lee in high regard.
Lee was the first person to report to Chen after he failed in his re-election bid in the 1998 Taipei Mayoral election and was also one of those who helped Chen set up his campaign office for his 2000 presidential election bid, Su said. He added that Lee, having experience working with Chen for many years, is well-trusted by the president.
Lee yesterday confirmed he had accepted Su's invitation to be the DPP's secretary-general.
Noting that he had long been involved in politics, Lee said he would assist Su in developing the DPP once he assumed his new position in the party.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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