People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday said he would like to cooperate with independent Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to establish a “league of practical democracy,” but Ko responded by joking about the idea.
Ko attended the PFP’s two-day youth summer camp as a lecturer yesterday morning, talking about his life experience and political ideals with young people.
Soong praised Ko for leading the Taipei City Government in presenting a successful Taipei Summer Universiade last month.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
He also presented Ko with a phrase he rewrote from a piece by calligraphy master Yu You-ren (于右任) and encouraged the mayor to be patient, keep his temper when angry and deal with difficulties calmly.
Ko said in his lecture that the most meaningful aspect of organizing the Universiade was to help Taiwanese regain confidence.
He encouraged young people to travel the country to really get to see and understand the nation.
“If you want to work according to the one fixed day off and one flexible rest day policy, you will never be great,” Ko said, referring to the government’s labor policy that was promulgated in January, but has drawn criticism from the public.
Ko said his younger brother once complained about “working eight hours a day, but still not getting things done.”
Ko said he told him: “You have to work very hard. I have never worked less than eight hours since I started at National Taiwan University Hospital.”
“To maintain my status as one of the world’s top experts in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, I had to read for five or six hours a day, and spend long hours instructing students and treating patients, which meant I was almost always working more than 10 hours a day,” said Ko, who was director of the hospital’s Department of Traumatology before being elected Taipei mayor in 2014.
Ko said that to succeed, young people should be diligent and persistent in pursuing their goals.
Soong also criticized the labor policy.
“Can the policy work when different vocations are asked to meet the same standard?” he asked.
“I’m not saying that no rest should be the norm, but if people are just clocking in and clocking out, they should not complain about their salaries,” Soong said.
Soong answered questions about rumors that the PFP intends to cooperate with Ko.
“We want to cooperate with Mayor Ko and with people of all political parties to establish a league of practical democracy,” he said.
Ko said jokingly: “I see it more as an afternoon tea league, where people with different views can sit down and discuss issues with each other.”
“Political parties do not need to fight to the death and people with different opinions should be able to work together,” he said, adding that Taiwan is a democratic, free, diverse and open society.
That diversity means people can cooperate while also criticizing each other, Ko said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary