Ending months of rumors, People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chang Show-foong (張曉風) resigned yesterday, dismissing speculation about possible reasons for her departure, but declined to give her own side of the story.
At a press conference, the legislator-at-large read out a statement saying that she had only one thing to say about her resignation, which was: “I quit, a simple subject followed by a simple verb.”
According to speculation, Chang could have resigned for various reasons. Some have suggested she resigned because she did not “fit” into the legislature, that she was “kidnapped” by environmental groups or that she was impatient with inefficiency in the legislative process.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
There was also a rumor that Chang was forced by the PFP to give her seat to Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔), an assistant professor of business management, to allow Chen to gain political experience in preparation for city council elections next year.
Chen Yi-chieh is the daughter of Independent Taipei City Councilor Chen Cheng-chung (陳政忠).
Whatever people have said about her, Chang said she will “let pass.”
Asked if she resigned of her own free will, Chang said a forced resignation was not possible.
A well-known writer, Chang in 2010 surprised many by kneeling in front of TV cameras to protest government’s plan to convert the Ministry of National Defense’s 202 Munitions Works into a biotech research park operated by Academic Sinica, a project which she said could jeopardize wetland ecology.
Chang said she would continue to push for legislation to protect the nation’s wetlands while remaining a legislative assistant and would also attend to other issues related to environment and culture in the party.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
RSS