Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) was sworn in yesterday to become the first mayor of Greater Taichung, which became a special municipality, and he pledged to assume his new responsibility with caution and care.
“There’s no free ‘upgrade’ and there are no free ‘governmental posts,’ we need to take up this brand-new challenge with brand-new concepts and determination,” Hu, of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said during the swearing-in ceremony.
Minister without Portfolio Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) presided over the ceremony and handed the official seal to Hu, who has served as mayor of Taichung City for the past nine years.
Greater Taichung was formed by the merger of Taichung City and neighboring Taichung County.
MORE THAN TWO COLORS
Hu said in this speech that there were other colors in life besides blue and green — the two colors that represent the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party with their respective allies — as he stressed the importance of white and black, which he said represent right and wrong.
“We ought to stop differentiating one another by blue or green, we should put forth our best foot for the interests and the city’s progress,” he said.
“Some say it is impossible for Taiwan to achieve the goal to have black and white trump blue and green, but we must set high expectations for ourselves that we can do it. Yes, we can!” Hu added.
FLAG RAISING
Hu concluded his inaugural speech by inviting the public to join him in 2012 for a flag-raising ceremony at Lishan (梨山) on New Year’s Day and greet the sunrise on the first day of the new year.
Greater Taichung will hold its flag-raising ceremony next year at its new city hall.
COUNTY CLOSES
On Friday at 5pm, Taichung County Government staff and residents gathered at County Hall to observe the county flag being lowered for the last time. They sang the county anthem, some in tears.
“I have served in the county government for 30 years, from a teenager to a middle-aged woman,” a caretaker surnamed Lin (林) said.
A Taichung County resident surnamed Wang (王) traveled from Dali (大里) to take part in the flag-lowering ceremony.
“I have never attended a flag-hoisting ceremony, so I thought I should be here for the last flag-lowering ritual,” she said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS