Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that Taiwan should not be led around by the nose by China and forced to respond to the policies it implements.
Ko visited Hsinchu yesterday and accompanied Republican Party Chairwoman Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), who is running for Hsinchu County commissioner, to election campaign events at the city’s Lianhua Temple (蓮華寺) and the local riverside park.
After China began issuing residency permit cards for Taiwanese in China, Cabinet spokesperson Kolas Yotaka on Thursday said the government is considering imposing regulatory measures or restrictions on cardholders.
Ko on Friday said that the government could also treat the cardholders the same way US green card holders are treated.
Ko’s remark sparked debate among political figures, including New Power Party Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐).
Lim on Friday evening explained the difference between the two cards on Facebook.
He said that China is the only country in the world that wants to annex Taiwan, so it cannot be viewed as the same as other countries, such as the US.
Asked again about China’s residency permit cards yesterday, Ko said that cross-strait relations are a difficult problem to deal with, but the nation should adopt a strategy of Taiwan-centered thinking.
“Currently, whenever it [Beijing] launches a policy, we are forced to respond,” he said, restating that Taiwan could just view the residency permit cards as green cards.
Separately, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) on Wednesday said that Ko should attend a televised debate with him to directly examine what he has done for the city in four years, as recent opinion polls all show that Ko is in the lead.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao (姚文智) on Friday said that he would like to invite Ko and Ting to join him in debates, which could be held weekly to discuss different policies each time.
In response, Ting said he would be glad to attend.
However, Ko said that any debates should be held after Nov. 8, when he takes leave from his post as mayor.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
RSS