The only difference between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is that Ko has not joined the party, Ko’s Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) rival, Sean Lien (連勝文), said yesterday, adding that Ko and the DPP had made a secret deal.
Lien’s comments came in response to a DPP complaint that the Chinese-language United Daily News ran misleading reports on Ko and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday.
According to the newspaper, Tsai said during a televised interview on SET-TV on Tuesday night that while the DPP had agreed to help Ko in his mayoral bid by not nominating its own candidate, Ko would have to join the DPP “mayors’ club” if he won and could not make any policy decision without its consent.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Lien said Ko was in agreement with the DPP in almost every aspect, and that even after their secret deal had been revealed, neither side was willing to clarify the details of the pact.
This is an excellent chance for voters to see if Ko’s actions match his words, Lien said as he canvassed for votes in Xinyi District’s (信義) traditional market.
A support group for Lien has allegedly distributed campaign literature stating that certain politicians are pretending to be independent while they are actually sympathetic to pro-Taiwanese independence and pan-green ideals and were wasting political resources by trying to smear their rivals.
However, Lien came in for some criticism himself he campaigned at the market. An elderly woman who said she was a long-time KMT supporter followed Lien’s entourage, asking how the Lien family had been able to amass its wealth while working as civil servants.
The woman told KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) that although she voted for Fai in 2012 and would have gladly voted for KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) — who had sought the KMT nomination for Taipei — she would not vote for Lien.
Two members of the Losheng Alliance stopped Lien when he toured the Zhonglun Market in Songshan District (松山) and asked Lien to keep his promises and sign a petition to stop construction of a Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) maintenance depot for the Luzhou-Sinjhuang MRT line being built near Losheng (Happy Life) Sanatorium.
Lien said the alliance had the same petition when he ran for the party’s Central Standing Committee p in 2006, and that he was all for the protection of the disadvantaged.
Lien promised that if elected, he would ask the TRTC to step up negotiations with the sanatorium, adding that he believed there must be a method that would protect disadvantaged groups while promoting development.
Additional reporting by Chen Yen-ting
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is seeking to join an Indo-Pacific economic framework being planned by the US, a senior official said. The government is paying close attention to the regional economic pact being touted by US President Joe Biden, although too few details have emerged from Washington for Taipei to make specific plans, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The US is expected to launch the Indo-Pacific economic framework next month after negotiations with Australia, India and Japan, the official said. The economic initiative is to tackle trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply-chain resiliency and
‘NEW YEAR GIFT’: While the MAC called the song propaganda, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that it addressed the homesickness of ‘Taiwanese compatriots’ A pro-unification pop song aired on Chinese television earlier this month would only further sour Taiwanese sentiment toward China, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Wednesday. The music video for We Sing the Same Song (我們同唱一首歌), which aired on China Central Television, features Chinese artists performing alongside Taiwanese singers Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Chen Li-nong (陳立農). The lyrics were reportedly written by Taiwanese lyricist Vincent Fang (方文山), known for his collaborations with Jay Chou (周杰倫), to music composed by a Chinese musician. Sung in Chinese and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), the song is about three Taiwanese siblings who
RULES TIGHTENED: Passengers arriving from Sydney and Los Angeles tested positive for COVID-19, while passengers arriving from Seattle all tested negative Seventeen of the 217 passengers who arrived on long-haul at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning tested positive for COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said, adding that the positivity rate was higher than expected. Yesterday was the first day that the government enforced stricter health guidelines for the testing of passengers arriving on long-haul flights. They must undergo a polymerase chain reaction test immediately after arriving at the nation’s international airports. Those who test positive are sent directly to hospitals to avoid spreading the virus to people working in and around the airports and at quarantine hotels. Victor Wang (王必勝),
SEPARATE CASE? A woman tested positive when she went with her daughter to be tested, because her daughter had taken the same bus to school as a steakhouse worker The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 10 local COVID-19 cases, six of whom had visited a steakhouse in Taoyuan where an infection cluster has been reported. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that of the 10 local infections, one case — No. 17,928 — is a Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport disease prevention staffer who works in the area where inbound travelers collect their saliva for a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, and sometimes at the fever screening station. The staffer had tested negative in a PCR test on Jan. 9 and
RSS