Former Taipei City Secretariat director Yang Hsi-an (楊錫安), who was removed from his post over the Xinsheng Overpass construction scandal last year, will take over as Taipei deputy mayor, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) announced yesterday.
Hau also said that Department of Economic Development commissioner Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文) would serve as another deputy mayor.
Yang and Chen will take up their new posts following the resignation of Taipei Deputy Mayor Allen Chiu (邱文祥), who is set to be appointed National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine president. The vacancies were created after Taipei City Council approved the Taipei City Government’s proposal to increase the number of deputy mayors from two to three last month.
In announcing the appointments, Hau lauded Chen for his work organizing the Taipei International Flora Expo and successfully promoting local business.
He also defended his appointment of Yang amid concerns about the former secretariat director’s alleged involvement in a scandal, praising his former top aide for his deep understanding of civil affairs and ability to draw up plans for urban development.
“Yang has demonstrated great ability in handling civil affairs ... The prosecutors have also proven his innocence in the scandal,” he said.
Yang, 61, said he was informed about the appointment yesterday morning and would “spare no effort” to fulfill his duties in the new post, but declined to comment on any scandal.
Hau removed Yang and demoted him to the position of technical superintendent in October last year after prosecutors listed him as a defendant in a case that included accusations of conspiring with construction companies during the bidding process. However, when prosecutors completed their investigation into the scandal in February, Yang was not indicted
Hau gave Yang his full support after the scandal broke last year, and even criticized prosecutors for discussing the overpass investigation in public. He further promised to resign if he was found to have been involved in misdeeds relating to the Xinsheng Overpass reconstruction project as he sought to defend city officials and prevent the scandal from affecting his re-election bid in November last year.
Hau yesterday shrugged off concerns about Yang’s alleged involvement in the scandal, insisting “Yang is innocent” when asked by reporters to comment on whether the incoming deputy mayor should retain administrative responsibilities relating to the scandal as the official formerly in charge of the construction project.
Three former officials, including former director of the city’s New Construction Department Huang Hsi-hsun (黃錫薰), former section chief of the department’s Public Works Bureau Chen Chih-sheng (陳智盛) and former chief engineer Chang Li-yen (章立言) were indicted on charges of abusing their power in handling the bidding process for the project in April 2008, to please their supervisors and increase their chances of promotion.
Yang and Chen will assume their new positions on Tuesday.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash