Taiwan’s unmatched understanding of China and a better world view than China’s were among the reasons Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) cited at a forum in Silicon Valley last night to attract investment to Taipei.
In an unexpected move, Ko, instead of reading from a script, improvised throughout his 17-minute speech in English, beginning with the conclusion.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the topic of my speech is: ‘Taipei, promising city for your investment.’ In conclusion…” Ko said, to which the crowd responded with roaring laughter, forcing him to pause.
“The conclusion is very important,” Ko added.
“The conclusion is you must invest in Taiwan, especially in Taipei,” Ko said, prompting more laughter.
He then gave the crowd from the business sector a well-rounded overview of Taipei’s major policies, including public housing, its open data policy and the Free Wi-Fi network, before moving on to the policies Taipei has implemented that foreign investors might find helpful.
“In a word, we try to reach [sic] what we can do to promote your vision and start-up in the city,” Ko said.
After introducing the city and its policies, Ko said: “In order to persuade you, to let you believe in my idea, why you should invest your money in Taipei, I can give you some more reasons.”
“Taiwan knows China better than the world knows [China], and Taiwan knows the world better than China knows [the world],” Ko said.
His remark won a round of applause.
“Taipei is not only the gateway to Asia. It is also the gateway to the China [sic] market,” he said.
Convenient public transportation, “cheap” commodity prices and labor, and the prevalence of international schools were among the other reasons Ko cited.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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