Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said he would not respond to a derogatory epithet that singer Christine Fan (范瑋琪) used to refer to him after he ordered a halt on exports of masks amid fears of a local novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.
Fan on Tuesday wrote on Facebook that Su was a “damned thug,” a “dog of a bureaucrat” and a “bastard” for issuing a directive on Friday last week to suspend exports of N95 respirators and masks made of woven materials until Feb. 23.
Fan wrote that Su was “inhuman” and asked whether an ordinary human being could have done such a thing.
Photo: Wang Wen-lin, Taipei Times
She deleted the post after it prompted outrage online and on Tuesday apologized, writing that she only hopes that people would “treat one another with love and care.”
However, Fan’s apology did not appease many, with about 172,000 Facebook users reacting to it with the “angry” emoji, while many left angry comments.
“Apparently, renminbi smells better. Before asking for people to show more love and care, why don’t you start with yourself?” Alison Wu wrote. “There is a shortage of masks domestically, yet you worry about the country on the other side of the Taiwan Strait first.”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ho Chih-wei (何志偉) yesterday said he received a call from Fan’s husband, TV personality Blackie Chen (陳建州), asking Ho to arrange a meeting between Su, his wife and himself, so that the couple could apologize to the premier in person.
Ho said he agreed to Chen’s request and relayed the message to Su’s office.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka quoted Su as saying that he would not pay any attention to Fan’s comments.
Su asked the couple to join efforts to prevent the spread of 2019-nCoV, which is the “most pressing matter at hand,” she said.
However, Su did not decline the couple’s request for a meeting, as some media reported, Kolas said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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