The KMT officially nominated Ma Ying-jeou (
But while citing Ma's "remarkable" performance over the past three years, party Chairman Lien Chan (
"Mayor Ma has to be very mindful and cope with the campaign with composure, because he's facing a rival with huge administrative resources under its control," Lien said.
PHOTO: CHU YU-PIN, TAIPEI TIMES
For example, there's the recent dispute over funding for flood-prevention projects along the Keelung River, Lien said.
The DPP-ruled central government left Taipei out of funding plans in an effort to thwart Ma's re-election bid, the KMT party chairman said.
On Ma's accomplishments, Lien noted that the mayor's approval rating shot up from 50 percent to 70 percent after one year in office.
"Ma didn't win credit by chance, but through hard work," Lien said.
Lien said the mayor hopes to develop Taipei into an international metropolis emphasizing culture, justice, stability and democracy and is close to achieving those goals.
Taipei also has the third lowest unemployment rate among 23 localities in Taiwan and the lowest crime rate, Lien noted.
Meanwhile, Ma said the city government has raised the quality of life in Taipei over the past three years by improving the Mass Rapid Transit System, adding to the city's Internet infrastructure and reducing garbage volumes through recycling measures.
Ma said under his leadership, the city has established a "new Taipei spirit," in which differences are resolved through patient communication with the people.
Ma pledged to continue his efforts to make Taipei into a world-class capital city in his second term and set a new example for Taiwan's democratic culture in the mayoral campaign.
To this end, Ma urged his rival, Lee Ying-yuan (
Lee yesterday congratulated Ma for obtaining the party's nomination, saying he expects a campaign of high quality.
The KMT is cooperating with the PFP in the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral races, and Ma has obtained the PFP's endorsement for his re-election bid.
The two parties, however, have not been able to decide on a joint candidate for Kaohsiung.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching