Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has achieved little in terms of municipal construction over the past six years, preferring to devote his time to being a media darling, city councilors from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
During city council's question and answer session yesterday, DPP Councilor Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) presented a survey that found more than 50 percent of the city's bureau directors considered their own performances as "just passable" during the past year.
Lee said even Taipei Deputy Mayor Pai Hsiou-hsiung (
"Mayor Ma relied on his strong support and good looks and paid little attention to municipal constriction, while taking part in too many futile activities that enable him to show off on the TV news," Lee said.
Lee urged the mayor to remedy the problems created by his administration so that he doesn't fall short of citizens' expectations.
Lee then presented Ma with the snack food Guai Guai.
Guai Guai, or "submissive" in English, is a snack popular among children.
Lee asked Ma to receive the food and said the snack's name is the impression Ma has presented Taiwan.
Ma refused to take the snack and told Lee to control his behavior.
Lee's action stemmed from Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai's (
City bureau directors, dubbed "Ma's troops," said Chen Chi-mai's remarks were inappropriate and flippant.
City spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (
Responding to a question from DPP City Councilor Chou Wei-yu (
Ma said the foundation often holds activities for college students and that these activities had been going on for some time.
But Chou said the camps featuring cross-strait affairs were Ma's first step to widen his support south of the Chuoshui River (濁水溪).
"I would like to stress again that there are no `Ma's troops' in the city government. Only pan-blue camp troops exist," Ma said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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