Keelung Mayor Hsu Tsai-li (
Hsu died of complications from chronic heart disease, doctors said. He was 60.
Hsu was elected as the Keelung mayor in 2001 and won re-election in 2005 by representing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
He is best known nationally for his involvement in a corruption scandal relating to a land procurement deal for the Keelung City Government's bus department.
The deal was later called off, after the city council suspected wrongdoing and referred the case to prosecutors, whose investigation centered on Hsu.
The Keelung District Court sentenced Hsu to seven years in prison, after finding him guilty of corruption for trying to sell a piece of his own land to the city's bus department at a large profit.
Hsu was kicked out of the KMT after his conviction in September, although he maintained his position as mayor.
He had protested his innocence until his death and had said he would appeal the ruling, a move that kept him out of prison under the Taiwanese legal system.
Hsu also faced a recall vote, as the KMT and the city council had threatened to force him out of office over the scandal.
The Public Officials Election and Recall Law (
Central Election Commission (CEC) Spokesman Teng Tian-you (
Elections are customarily held on weekends, which means the Keelung by-election would most likely be held on May 12.
In addition to expressing their condolences, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), People First Party and Taiwan Solidarity Union yesterday all said that they would take part in the by-election.
Hsu had been undergoing dialysis treatment to treat diabetes complications. Three toes on his left foot had been amputated after becoming infected when he inspected a flooded area in Keelung in 2002.
Last year, KMT and DPP members launched a joint recall of Hsu after he was convicted of corruption. Since then, Hsu's health had deteriorated.
Hsu started his political career as a local borough chief. He had served as Keelung City councilor since 1982, and had been the speaker of the Keelung City Council for 12 consecutive years since 1990.
In 1997, Hsu withdrew from the KMT and campaigned for the Keelung mayorship, although he lost the election. He made a comeback in 2001, when he was elected mayor on a KMT nomination.
During his re-election bid in 2005, Hsu was accused of involvement in the land procurement scandal, but with full support of former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS