Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"There can be no collaboration when two parties have different viewpoints. The difference between my stand and the DPP's is understandable," said Ma.
Ma's intention and allegiance has been publicly debated ever since a joint ticket with President Chen Shui-bian (
Ma, however, dismissed any connection between he and the DPP. He said that it was only natural that the central government would support local governments when necessary, no matter which party was in power.
"Yu would not be expecting my cooperation with Chen after handing out the money," Ma said.
"My first priority is Taipei City affairs. I would support anything that is beneficial to the city's citizens. I will of course support the central government in its willingness to deliver more financial help to the local government but my support for the KMT candidates will not decrease. These two things are not in conflict with each other."
When asked whether the DPP would manipulate the electorate by saying to vote DPP is to show support for Ma, thereby assuring that Ma did not have to wait until 2012 to become Taiwan's president, Ma said, "there should not be any such concerns. Those who support me are not unintelligent."
Meanwhile, several pan-blue camp luminaries last night shared a stage at an event celebrating the impending announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO) that Taiwan is SARS-free.
Taiwan is the only country left on the list of SARS-affected areas. If no new cases are reported, health officials expect the WHO to remove the country from the list today.
Among the line-up of entertainers ranging from pop singers to dancers, pan-blue heavyweights such as KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The event, held in the square in front of Taipei City Hall, was sponsored by television station CTV.
"Taipei citizens have been suppressed for too long [because of the SARS outbreak]," Ma said. "Via this big-scale outdoor event, we hope to provide a venue where people can loosen up and enjoy themselves in the post-SARS era."
Unless other cases are reported today, Taiwan will have gone 20 straight days without a new SARS infection, thereby meeting the final requirement for removal from the WHO's list of affected countries.
In a WHO statement released yesterday, Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland was reported to be ready to declare Taiwan free of SARS later today.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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