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.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
RSS