NEW TAIPEI (TVBS News) — New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih has urged the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to address the alleged sexual harassment case within their party on Thursday (June 1).
A former DPP staff member revealed on social media a day earlier that she had been sexually harassed by a movie director last September. Still, her then-supervisor, Hsu Chia-tien, head of the Department of Women's Affairs, was indifferent and tried to cover up the incident.
Hsu was later promoted to DPP's Deputy Secretary-General in January 2023. Her resignation was accepted by the DPP today after the incident was revealed.
Earlier today, Hou inspected the old Xizhi Zhongzheng Public Market renovation project, the ninth market he planned to modernize and reconstruct within New Taipei City during his tenure.
"Has DPP Chairman Lai been informed about this incident by now?" Hou told reporters and wondered why Hsu was promoted to the party's deputy secretary-general after Lai became chairman.
Prompting Lai to respond to the scandal in person, Hou expressed that "the DPP has been prioritizing elections and its own interests rather than values over the past few years."
DPP spokesperson Lin Chu-yin and Director of Gender Equality Li Yen-jung, appearing at a press conference earlier today, assured its members' safety remains a top priority.
"We will thoroughly review the incident and acknowledge mistakes, if there was a deficiency in the party's reporting mechanism," said Lin.
In a statement released by the pan-Green party, Lai stated that a special team is formed to investigate and will report its findings immediately. Meanwhile, Hsu has been suspended from her role pending an investigation.
Lai expressed sincere regret and apologized to the victim for when she reported to Hsu, but no immediate actions were taken. According to a post on Facebook published earlier today, "on behalf of the party, I want to apologize to this party member again for letting you shoulder all the fear."
