A month before finishing his eight-year term in office as Taipei mayor, Ma Ying-jeou (
To sum up the municipal developments under Ma's administration over the past eight years, the Taipei City government yesterday published a set of two books under the title To Be Reborn Through the Carrot and Stick Approach.
Ma shared his pride in policies on garbage disposal and river dredging, and said he never disregarded Chen's contributions.
PHOTO: CNA
"He [Chen] tried to implement the policy of paying for garbage disposal by the bag, but it didn't work out... But he only served for four years. Of course we have achieved more, but I never tried to write off his contributions," Ma said at the book-release ceremony at Taipei City Hall.
Among his administration's achievements, such as the introduction of the MRT EasyCard, a decrease in garbage disposal and the construction of the MRT, Ma said, five projects received worldwide recognition by winning international awards, including the Asia Waste Management Excellence Award in 2001 and the Intelligent Community Award this year, as well as being crowned the city with the world's largest Wi-Fi network.
Commenting on the controversy surrounding the policy on renovating old markets, Ma said that although it was a difficult process, of the 18 market renovation projects in Taipei, only six were confronted with serious problems.
"We welcome criticism, but please also give us credit for our successes. Don't say that I did nothing but jog and swim for the past eight years. It's unfair to all the city's hard-working staff," he added.
Ma was choked with sobs when he talked about coming to the end of his term, and said that he expected the next mayor to continue with developments that have not yet been completed, such as the leveling of sidewalks and dredging the Tamsui River.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard