PFP's Lee attacks Mayor Ma over proposed stadium

The first shots in the Taipei mayoral race were fired yesterday, after PFP legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) criticized Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for failing to make a case for the proposed Taipei Sports Dome to the Cabinet.

Lee, widely expected to be her party's candidate in next year's Taipei mayoral election, may have started an argument that will continue up to polling day.

Plans for the dome were first proposed in 1992 by then-Taipei mayor Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). The aim was to build a sports stadium to accommodate at least 40,000 spectators.

The project -- which remains on the drawing board because an appropriate site has not been found -- was brought up again following Taipei's success hosting of the Baseball World Cup last month.

The city recently considered building the stadium on the site of the Sungshan Tobacco Factory, a historic site.

In the legislature yesterday, Lee asked Chen Yu-hsiu (陳郁秀), chairwoman of the Council for Cultural Affairs, about speculation the Cabinet was boycotting Taipei's current plan because it thought that it would be inappropriate to place the stadium next to a historic site.

Chen denied the speculation, saying the city government had not proposed a plan to the central government since withdrawing a proposal filed in February.

"How can I possibly comment on anything about the plan if I haven't had a chance to look at a proposal, which has not been filed?" Chen said.

Lee then turned her fire on Ma, who as Taipei mayor does not sit in the legislature and hence wasn't present.

"Has Ma ever made an effort to fight for the stadium in Taipei?" she asked.

"The project has become a mess, as the central government and the Taipei City Government are constantly passing the buck," she said.

Ma refused to respond yesterday, but Taipei city spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said that Lee's remarks were unfair because Ma has tried to promote the building of the stadium.