Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday agreed to grant Taichung City NT$3.2 billion toward its planned establishment of a NT$6.4 billion branch of the Guggenheim Museum and will decide within three weeks whether to grant the city NT$2 billion more.
"We don't have any problem with funding the city half of the construction cost since it's a pledge made by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)," Cabinet Secretary-General Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) quoted Yu as saying.
PHOTO: CNA
"But we have to make sure that we can afford the additional request of NT$2 billion and that the additional funding won't create any backlash from neighboring counties and cities," Liu quoted Yu as saying.
Yu made the remarks yesterday morning while receiving Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (
Hu's visit comes one week after his meeting with Chen, who pledged that the central government would shoulder half of the museum's construction expenses.
Painting Yu's decision as "acceptable," Hu took the opportunity yesterday to shrug off media speculation that his visit was politically motivated.
He stressed that his visit was aimed at boosting the interest of his city and that of central Taiwan.
"I feel like the most expensive gigolo in town with a NT$5 billion price tag placed on my forehead, as many have interpreted my visit today as a political gambit for my personal gain," Hu said.
As a KMT member, Hu said there is no doubt that he has his own political agenda but it is inappropriate for the media to mix it up with his capacity as Taichung mayor.
"As mayor, my job is to do my best to fight for the best interests of my city and this shouldn't be mistaken for the interests of my party," he said.
The recent friendly interactions between the DPP administration and local KMT chiefs have caught media attention. Hu is part of what the media calls "Ma-Li-Chiang" (high horsepower, 馬立強) to describe the three popular KMT government chiefs deemed to have promising political careers.
The three characters are taken from the names of Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
To fund the additional NT$2 billion, Liu said the Cabinet may include the project in its three-year, NT$300 billion public-construction project or the five-year, NT$500 billion public-construction project -- if the city gets the museum.
"The bottom line is, however, that the additional funds don't overlap with other cultural re-sources or result in disparity of cultural resources allocated in northern, central and southern Taiwan," Liu said.
The Solomon Guggenheim Foundation is studying the feasibility of the planned museum. If it agrees, Taichung will become the first city in the Asia-Pacific region to have a Guggenheim subsidiary.
The Guggenheim has branches in Venice, Berlin, Bilbao, Las Vegas and New York.
Like the Bilbao facility, the Guggenheim Taichung would exhibit a significant amount of contemporary Asian art, including that of Taiwan.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS