Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Greater Tainan Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) yesterday accused Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) and 20 local government officials of dereliction of duty, obstructing official business and violating the Local Government Act (地方制度法) after Lai and his administrative team’s no-show at an interim session of the council.
Lai had said on Jan. 6 that he would not attend any council meetings until the court has resolved allegations of vote-buying involving the election of Tainan Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教), a KMT member.
Lai said that, in the meantime, he would let residents directly supervise his performance and that he would take political responsibility for his actions.
Photo: CNA
Hsieh went to the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office later yesterday and charged Lai with violating Articles 134 and 135 of the Criminal Code and Articles 48, 49 and 84 of the Local Government Act. He said that Lai and the officials’ failure to show up at the meeting ran counter to democratic procedures and might lead to a crisis in government.
He said that Greater Tainan Council Secretary-General Huang Kung-hsi (黃恭喜) had made repeated calls and KMT councilors Lu Kun-fu (盧崑福), Wang Chia-chen (王家貞) and others had attempted to visit the officials, but Lai and his team had been unreachable.
However, some legal experts questioned the validity of Hsieh’s move, saying that it is the Ministry of the Interior — not the court — that decides on issues pertaining to violations of the Local Government Act.
Some councilors also said that the Control Yuan should investigate Lai and other officials for allegedly interfering with the running of the local government because of “personal reasons.”
Lai traveled to Taipei yesterday morning to attend a Cabinet meeting, during which he suggested that the government establish a state-level examination center in southern Taiwan in response to an outbreak of avian influenza in the south.
Lai said that setting up such a center would be more effective than sending samples north for examination.
More than eight counties and at least 40 farms in the south have confirmed infections since the outbreak last week.
Tainan Deputy Mayor Yen Chun-tso (顏純左) and Tainan Secretary-General Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) visited Siaying (下營) and Madou (麻豆) districts to oversee the culling of chickens infected by the virus.
Responding to questions about Lai’s absence at the council meeting, the local government said that on-site monitoring of the influenza spread was more important than meetings.
Hsieh said that if Lai did not see the error of his ways and chair meetings on how the local government should deal with the influenza outbreak, Lai was betraying the trust of the people who had placed their faith in him by electing him to office.
Additional reporting by CNA
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
RSS