Despite campaign promises by Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) to boost Taiwan’s global presence by holding various international sporting events, Taipei in March this year stealthily withdrew its bid to host the 2019 Asian Games.
In the run-up to the Olympic Council of Asia’s (OCA) announcement of the host city for the 18th Asian Games tomorrow, Taipei City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said he was recently surprised to discover from his exchanges with the city government that it had withdrawn its widely trumpeted bid for the sports event long ago.
Chuang made the discovery when he approached the city government to obtain information pertaining to the city’s bid and to find out who had been selected to represent the city at the announcement ceremony in Macau, only to receive an unexpected response that “the city’s Asian Games bid has been recalled.”
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
After launching a probe into the matter, Chuang found that the city government withdrew its bid in a letter to the Sports Affairs Council on March 29, in which it said that due to several major infrastructure plans laid out for the city in the coming years, it would like to recall its bid for the 2019 Asian Games, as well as the 2017 Asian Youth Games.
“The city government will not make its official announcement public until the council notifies the OCA of our withdrawal,” the letter said. “Please explain on behalf of the city government our situation to the OCA.”
Taipei City Government spokesman Chang Chi-chiang (張其強) yesterday confirmed that the city had withdrawn the bid, saying that as the city has won the right to host the 2017 Summer Universiade, it had to drop the 2019 Asian Games bid to better concentrate available manpower and resources on the former.
In March 2010, Taipei beat the then-Kaohsiung City and the then-Taipei County in a vote by the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee on who would bid to represent Taiwan in the competition to host the next Asian Games.
On Aug. 3, 2010, Hau, seeking re-election, was accompanied by then-New Taipei City mayoral candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and then-KMT secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) as he announced the city’s plan to spend about NT$31 billion (US$1.06 billion) promoting and facilitating its bid to host the Games.
Hau and Chu, both clad in baseball uniforms, also trumpeted their planned joint bid to host the 2017 East Asian Games and the 2017 Summer Universiade.
However, Taipei’s withdrawal may not come as a shock to DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), who, in her capacity as campaign spokesperson for then-DPP New Taipei City mayoral candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), said that Taipei would most likely give up on its much-publicized bid.
“While I welcome the determination demonstrated by city governments to compete for the rights to host international sporting events, what really matters are executive power and capability,” Hsiao said at the time. “After all, the KMT has a reputation of being a ‘halfway quitter’ when it comes to bidding for such events.”
In response to Hsiao’s criticism, Chu’s campaign office at the time said that the “Duo-Taipei” joint bids that put the 2019 Asian Games as a top priority were a “practical and honest” tactic.
When the allegations that the city was to withdraw its Asian Games bid first emerged in March, Taipei City Councilor Chin Hui-chu (秦慧珠) of the KMT lambasted Hau for breaking his campaign promises and acting as a “fraudster in the international sports arena.”
“The Taipei City Government submitted a pie-in-the-sky proposal without doing a thorough assessment and then ran away after it had grabbed the bidding rights from other hopefuls,” she said at the time. “Such conduct shows no regard whatsoever for the city’s integrity and the country’s global image, and it is a laughing-stock in the international community.”
Chuang on Monday blasted the city’s unilateral withdrawal of its bid as a decision that forsook the public, as well as the other two hopeful bidders, then-Kaohsiung City and then-Taipei County.
Accusing the city government of trifling with its Asian Games bid, Chuang said it should not have competed against the two other bidders if it had known it was not capable of hosting the event.
“The Taipei City Government owes an apology to both Kaohsiung and New Taipei City [新北市, the successor of Taipei County],” Chuang added.
Calling into question the city government’s budget for its Asian Games bid, Chuang said: “On the one hand, the city government claimed it withdrew the bid due to an inadequate budget and insufficient time to construct the required stadiums, while on the other it squandered about NT$1.27 million taking government officials on a fact-finding visit to Dubai in April 2010.”
In November of the same year, the city government also spent NT$607,417 on another fact-finding visit to Guangzhou, China, the host of the 2010 Asian Games, followed by a fact-finding trip to Tokyo, Japan, Chuang said.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
RSS