Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Keelung city councilors this week accused Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of using resources from his family business to launch recall campaigns against his political opponents.
The councilors told reporters that they are being targeted for recall by Hsieh and other Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials, who they alleged have started gathering signatures to demand a referendum for their recall in many constituencies.
Keelung City Council Speaker Tung Tzu-wei (童子瑋) on Wednesday said he is among the five DPP city councilors being targeted.
Photo: Lu Hsiu-hsien, Taipei Times
“This is a vicious form of retribution by Hsieh, and will add fuel to the fire burning in Keelung’s ongoing political feuds and scandals,” he said.
“It is also the worst type of dirty political trick in Taiwan, tarnishing Keelung’s image and causing more residents to lose faith in the mayor,” Tung said.
Asked about the recall drive, Hsieh at first said he was not aware of it and did not support any recall campaign against city councilors.
However, KMT Keelung chapter director Wu Kuo-sheng (吳國勝) later confirmed to reporters that “the signature drive was launched by our party members in response to DPP members and their supporters who started an online campaign to recall Hsieh.”
“This is our way of fighting back, by initiating efforts to recall these five DPP councilors,” Wu added.
The city councilors accused Hsieh of plotting against them due to their questions in city council sessions regarding allegations that the city government and police forced the proprietor of Keelung E-Square Mall (基隆東岸商場) to hand over the operating rights, which were allegedly given to Breeze Group through a secret deal.
NET Fashion Development Co, which formerly owned the commercial rights to the mall, has filed a lawsuit against Hsieh and the city government for allegedly carrying out an illegal “nighttime raid” on Feb. 1, in which city officials and 40 police officers hauled away items belonging to the company, shut down the NET store at the mall and changed the locks to prevent re-entry.
Tung and DPP City Councilor Chang Hao-han (張顥瀚) presented voice recordings, signed documents and other evidence which they said had been provided by a whistle-blower.
They cited the alleged whistle-blower as saying that managers at Keelung Second Credit Cooperative (KSCC) branches were told at a meeting on Tuesday to gather recall signatures from employees by today.
Founded by Hsieh’s grandfather, KSCC is one of Keelung’s leading financial institutions. Hsieh’s father, Hsieh Hsiu-ping (謝修平), became chairman of the company in 1972, which then passed to Georgie Hsieh after his death last year.
Tung and Chang said the evidence showed that they are being targeted in the signature drive, along with DPP city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷), Jiho Chang (張之豪) and Chen Yi (陳宜).
“[George] Hsieh engaged in illegal action in the E-Square Mall incident, and could not answer questions on the matter while also mishandling other city affairs,” Jiho Chang said yesterday.
“Instead of doing his job as a mayor, he is taking revenge by trying to launch recall campaigns against his critics, including the councilors and council speaker who were voted into their seats in a free election,” he said.
“Questioning the mayor and monitoring the city govenment’s work are the official duties of city councilors ... but Hsieh has demonstrated his incompetence. Most of his election promises are like bounced checks. Now he is engaging in dirty tricks to exact revenge against his political opponents,” Jiho Chang added.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
RSS