A political neutrality requirement for members of the nation’s 15 irrigation associations means that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is to lose several of its Central Standing Committee members, a party source said yesterday.
An amendment to the Organic Regulations for Irrigation and Water Conservancy Associations (農田水利會組織通則) implemented in November returned control of the associations to the government. To facilitate the transition, the terms for leaders and members of the associations were extended to 2020, but all are required to follow the Civil Service Administrative Neutrality Act (公務人員行政中立法) during the interim.
One of the KMT’s most influential Central Standing Committee members, Lin Wen-jui (林文瑞) — who is also head of the Yunlin Irrigation Association — last month resigned from the party, the source said, adding that the party believes the resignation is unnecessary.
The KMT has protested the amendment, saying it would make the associations a tool for political manipulation, with one legislator calling it a scare tactic aimed at coercing farmers into voting for the Democratic Progressive Party. Giving control of the associations to the Executive Yuan would “bind the hands and feet” of association members, the KMT said.
Eleven association heads are also KMT members, such as Lin, who holds various party posts and also leads the Joint Irrigation Association, in addition to the Yunlin organization.
The KMT believes that association heads and members should not be required to resign from the party if their positions within the KMT are unpaid, the source said, citing Lin, whose serves on the Central Standing Committee as a volunteer.
“Otherwise, you may as well change the Constitution to say that no civil servant can be a member of a political party,” the source said, adding that people should be free to have political affiliations if it does not interfere with their work.
Lin should not abandon his party affiliation, KMT Central Standing Committee member Lee Te-wei (李德維) said, adding that his party-related roles are honorary and not salaried.
“Is it not the case that there are Democratic Progressive Party Central Standing Committee and Central Executive Committee members who are also paid government officials?” he added.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
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
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we