Legislator Ann Kao (高虹安), the Taiwan People’s Party candidate for Hsinchu mayor, yesterday said she did not contravene regulations on hiring following accusations that she employed her boyfriend as an assistant.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Hsinchu mayoral candidate Lin Ken-jeng (林耕仁) on Monday said that Kao’s assistant, surnamed Lee (李), had no extension number on the staff listing for Kao’s office and used the same cellphone number as Kao.
Lin said that Kao must clarify whether Lee is her boyfriend and whether she used taxpayers’ money to pay his wages.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
Under the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法), a legislator can hire eight to 14 assistants, whose salaries are paid out of the legislature’s budget.
Kao said that Lin should provide evidence if he thought she had engaged in illegal activity instead of “throwing out lots of questions to evade legal responsibilities.”
Kao said she has been running a “clean campaign” and never dug into other candidates’ private lives or those of their family members, adding that Lin should respect her personal life, as the questions he asked “were private and had nothing to do with the public.”
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
Lin yesterday said that Kao “avoided the important issues” and “refused to honestly face the questions” over Lee’s alleged employment, adding that she is not qualified to be mayor.
Democratic Progressive Party Hsinchu mayoral candidate Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) said that regardless of whether Lee is Kao’s boyfriend, the issue is whether he worked as her assistant.
She asked Kao to explain the matter, adding that Hsinchu citizens “will not accept a candidate who confuses their private life with their public role and engages in illegal activities.”
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
Minister of Labor Ho Pei-shan (何佩珊) yesterday apologized after the suicide of a civil servant earlier this month and announced that a supervisor accused of workplace bullying would be demoted. On Nov. 4, a 39-year-old information analyst at the Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) northern branch, which covers greater Taipei and Keelung, as well as Yilan, Lienchiang and Kinmen counties, was found dead in their office. WDA northern branch director Hsieh Yi-jung (謝宜容), who has been accused of involvement in workplace bullying, would be demoted to a nonsupervisory position, Ho told a news conference in Taipei. WDA Director-General Tsai Meng-liang (蔡孟良) said he would
RSS