Independent Taipei mayor-elect Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday announced that People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) has accepted his offer to become his top policy adviser.
“Soong’s administrative team during his term as Taiwan provincial governor has always been considered the most efficient team, and I have a lot to learn from him,” Ko told a press conference immediately after his more-than-an-hour-long meeting with Soong yesterday morning.
“Soong talked about a lot of things during the meeting, but I feel that I still have much to learn from him, therefore I would like to invite him to be my top policy adviser,” Ko said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Ko then repeated the invitation three times, saying that as a first-time mayor, he does not know what challenges are ahead and therefore needs an experienced political leader to give him advice.
Soong gladly accepted the offer, saying that he does not care about the title, but would like to help as much as he can. He added that he would accept the position without pay and promised that he would not interfere in Ko’s appointment of officials.
He then told Ko that “there is no other way to handle public affairs, but to always have the public in mind and to be patient.”
Commenting on the controversies that Ko has triggered with his recent remarks on certain policy projects, Soong said that he admires Ko for his honesty and being himself.
“Are these not the personality traits that attracted voters and led to his election?” Soong asked.
However, Soong added that as a mayor, Ko should also try not to talk too fast and advised that Ko should have at least three types of assistants by his side.
“The first is a troubleshooter who is able to identify problems and help solve them; the second is someone who can take down promises or complaints that Ko makes or receives when meeting with people, and follow up on these issues afterwards,” Soong said. “And the third is a spokesperson who has to take part in meetings and understands what Ko thinks, so that he or she may serve as a buffer for Ko.”
Asked if he agrees with Ko on cross-strait relations, as Ko believes Taiwan and China are two separate countries, while Soong supports a “one China” policy, Soong said that they are actually on the same page, as at the core, both of them believe that cross-strait relations should develop peacefully and in a moderate way.
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