Taipei City Government spokesman Liu Yi-ting (劉奕霆) yesterday denied a report that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) decision to reassign his chief of staff Tsai Pi-ju (蔡壁如) and appoint her as a municipal adviser was intended to please the pan-green camp.
Tsai was relieved from duty shortly after the third anniversary of Ko’s inauguration on Monday last week.
She has worked with Ko for more than 20 years starting when he was a surgeon at National Taiwan University Hospital.
After Liu confirmed the dismissal last week, Ko on Friday told reporters that it was only a rearrangement of duties.
As Tsai has a straightforward personality that might not be appropriate for handling external affairs, she would handle internal affairs at the city government, Ko said, adding that politics is not the only factor to be considered when deciding whether a person is suitable for a post.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday reported that the arrangement was aimed at pleasing the pan-green camp in consideration of this year’s mayoral election, as Tsai’s outspoken personality was said to have offended many councilors.
Liu yesterday said the duties of municipal advisers would be separated into internal and external affairs, and Tsai would be handling meetings, documents and personnel evaluation at the city government.
The external affairs post remains vacant, Liu said, adding that people should not overinterpret the arrangement.
Tsai has been in charge of contacting and negotiating with external groups regarding city policies, Liu said, adding that after the arrangement she would no longer be contacting them.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
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Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
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