Two government officials yesterday said they met Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶富造船) president Chen Ching-nan (陳慶男) and his son, Chen Wei-chih (陳偉志), last year, but they did not press the navy to expedite a payment of NT$2.4 billion (US$79.58 million at the current exchange rate) for a minesweeper project.
The visit by Chen Ching-nan and Chen Wei-chih to then-New Southbound Policy Office director James Huang (黃志芳) and Presidential Office Third Bureau Director David Lee (李南陽) at the Presidential Office on Sept. 23 last year was the last of six visits the two made to the office since 2010.
The first five meetings occurred during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, including a meeting on Dec. 9, 2015, between Chen Ching-nan and then-Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Hsiung Kuang-hua (熊光華).
Photo: CNA
The other four visits were made when the office was receiving foreign dignitaries, records showed.
Chen Ching-nan was involved in all but one of the the six visits, while Chen Wei-chih took part in the first and the last.
The records were published by the Presidential Office on Wednesday night, contradicting its earlier claims it had found no evidence of a visit last year.
Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) on Wednesday said that Chen Ching-nan and his son did not meet with any official from either President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) office or that of the National Security Council secretary-general.
The pair met with Huang and Lee in their respective offices and left the Presidential Office Building after 1 hour and 48 minutes, Lin said.
Lee said the minesweeper project was not raised during the meeting, adding that a full report on the meeting had been compiled and forwarded to the Presidential Office.
Lee said that he had asked his secretary to contact Huang’s office after hearing that Chen Ching-nan also planned to visit Huang.
Huang said he handed his visitor logs to the Presidential Office Division of Governmental Ethics on Wednesday afternoon.
Huang said his meeting with Chen Ching-nan had primarily been about cooperation with Indonesian shipbuilders and land developers on Kabupaten Pulau Morotai Island in Indonesia.
“He [Chen Ching-nan] brought up the minesweeper project toward the very end of the meeting, but I thought has was simply complaining,” Huang said.
“I am willing to take full responsibility” if it could be proven that he had contacted the Ministry of National Defense and the Presidential Office as a result of the meeting, Huang said.
Huang said he had not relayed Chen Ching-nan’s complaints to his superiors as it was “not his job.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) called on Ma to clarify the details of the meetings with Chen Ching-nan during his presidency.
DPP caucus secretary-general Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) said that on the same day Chen Ching-nan accepted then-vice president Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) invitation to appear at a state banquet for Guatemala on Dec 29, 2015, then-Executive Yuan secretary-general Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) called for a second round of mediation talks with the company’s creditor banks.
Wu should clarify what happened at the meeting and why the banks, which had refused to provide Ching Fu with a loan, later agreed to the loan, Ho said.
Additional reporting by Peng Wan-hsin
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS