President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday presented former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) with the Order of the Brilliant Star medal.
On accepting the award at the Presidential Office, Lo thanked the president for giving him the opportunity to join his team and participate in public affairs, but declined to say whether he will work for Ma in the future.
Lo resigned from his post in September in the wake of allegations of improper lobbying made against Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and said he will not run in the Keelung mayoral election.
Following his resignation, Lo continued his criticism of Wang’s alleged improper lobbying on Facebook, while using his page to defend Ma’s policies.
The Presidential Office yesterday dismissed concerns that the medal was to reward Lo for criticizing Wang, and said such medals have been given to almost every top official at the Presidential Office.
Lo was presented with the honor for his achievements in enhancing the office’s communication with the media and explaining government policies, as well as planning the president’s diplomatic visits, the Presidential Office said.
Ma did not comment on Lo’s medal, but the Presidential Office and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have softened their stances on the issue of Wang’s party membership. As the KMT chairman, Ma agreed on Wednesday that the dispute over Wang’s membership should be handled within the party.
Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) yesterday dismissed allegations that Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), Ma’s top aide, will soon take over as secretary-general to try to turn around domestic affairs amid Ma’s record-low approval rate.
She said the Presidential Office does not know where such allegations came from.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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