With the latest poll showing rivals for the Taipei mayoral seat running neck-and-neck, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday stepped up his criticism of prosecutors, saying their high-profile raids of city government offices in relation to the Xinsheng Overpass scandal was costing him vital voter support.
Hau blamed the searches for the drop in his support rate in recent polls conducted by his campaign team, and said he was willing to take a polygraph or handwriting test to facilitate the investigation.
“I am willing to accept the prosecutors’ orders if they want me to take a lie detector or handwriting test. I would step down immediately if I were found to be involved in the scandal,” he said on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for the Uni-Hankyu Mall near Taipei City Hall.
Hau, of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said that in polls conducted by his team, his support rate dropped significantly every time news about the prosecutors’ searches of the Taipei City Government came out.
A poll released by TVBS cable television station yesterday found Hau had a support rate of 43 percent, while DPP candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) was behind by only 1 point, receiving 42 percent support.
Hau said the election outlook in the mayoral election has been a tug of war between him and Su, and he would spare no effort to win the support of Taipei voters.
He confirmed that he has taken a more aggressive stance toward the prosecutors’ moves because of concern about the investigation’s impact on the election.
“I absolutely respect the judiciary, but I expect the judiciary not to intervene in politics,” Hau said.
The mayor promised on Wednesday to resign if he was found to have been involved in the scandal. He made the pledge after Taipei District prosecutors alleged that Taipei City Secretariat Director Yang Hsi-an (楊錫安) contacted the owner of a construction company before the firm won a tender for the Xinsheng Overpass reconstruction project.
They said Yang might also be involved in the purchase of allegedly overpriced flowers for the project, and searched his office and residence to collect information.
Commenting on Hau’s combative stance, Su slammed the mayor for worrying about his election campaign, and urged him to explain the problematic flower purchase plans for the overpass project.
“The elections are all that are on Hau’s mind right now,” DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said. “He still hasn’t apologized for the [allegations] that his administration’s secretary-general was deeply involved in the scandal.”
Lin called on prosecutors’ to speed up their investigation over the scandal, adding that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration “should not turn around when they meet one of their own.”
Additional reporting by Vincent Y. Chao
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS