The central government has been outmaneuvered and embarrassed by a renegade county commissioner, but would prevail in the end through legal means, officials said yesterday.
Taitung County Commissioner Wu Chun-li (
"Nobody is allowed to challenge the law. What Wu has done, including his fake `divorce' with his wife, sets a bad example for the public," Yao said.
Yao made his remarks during a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning. Yao said that the central government was handling Wu's case by following the law, but that Wu's appointment of his wife as deputy was truly unexpected.
The minister said that as Wu had been suspended upon being sworn in as commissioner, he did not have the right to appoint a deputy.
Under these circumstances, the government will appoint an acting commissioner to do his job temporarily, he said.
Yao quoted Premier Frank Hsieh (
Wu was convicted of corruption by the Taiwan High Court but has appealed the ruling. In the meantime, he has also been charged with vote-buying and is currently out on NT$1 million (US$29,800) bail.
By law, Wu would be immediately suspended from his position upon his swearing-in. Knowing this, Wu divorced his wife Kuang Li-chen (
Wu appointed Kuang before Minister of the Council of Indigenous Peoples Walis Pelin (
However, Pelin said that Wu's suspension was effective immediately upon his being sworn in and that he therefore did not have the right to name a deputy.
The Taitung County Government said that Kuang and its Secretary-General Lai Shun-hsien (
Although Wu is suspended, he can still run in a by-election by resigning and retaking the oath of office if re-elected.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday that Wu's appointment of his spouse as his deputy was illegal and the public should support the government's move to suspend him from the post.
DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (
Even though Wu thought his actions were valid, Hsu said that he had violated the Public Officials Conflict of Interest Prevention Law (
Although Wu divorced his wife on Monday, Hsu said that it should be considered invalid because it violates Article 87 of the civil code for plotting a fake divorce.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
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Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
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