Lin Join-sane (林中森) became the secretary-general of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday, vowing to complete the missions set forth by the party and party chairman. Lin said he hoped to reconcile party affairs with public opinion, so that the voices of people at the grassroots level could get through to the government via the party.
Lin, 67, previously served as Kaohsiung deputy mayor, deputy minister of the interior and Executive Yuan secretary-general. He replaces Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) as KMT secretary-general.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as KMT chairman, was supportive of Lin, but reminded him that it was a “tough job” and that he needed to be mentally prepared for it. Ma said the public has seen the party engage in many substantive reforms, but feels they are insufficient.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“We hope there will be more reform so that the grand old party can have a new look in its centennial year,” Ma said. “Lin is good at coordinating. His low-key style always enables him to complete his mission.”
He also praised Lin as someone well-versed in a wide range of fields, from relations between the central and local governments to planning and construction, and from social welfare to national parks.
The president commended the Liao for a job well done, saying that he had reluctantly accepted Liao’s request to resign because he had repeatedly asked for more time with his 98-year-old mother.
Liao would not confirm -reports that he will become the head of the Association of East Asian Relations, which handles Taiwan’s relations with Japan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
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