Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) election campaign office yesterday unveiled its mobile campaign headquarters, which it said would join a fun fair in Beitou District’s (北投) Qixing Park (七星公園) on Saturday.
The announcement prompted criticism from his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival, Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智), who accused Ko of copying his idea for a mobile campaign office and the Taipei City Government of being unfair for rejecting his proposal to hold a campaign activity in a park.
Less than a month before the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24, Ko’s campaign office showcased its “mobile campaign headquarters” — a 26-tonne truck painted in light blue, featuring a large letter “K” and Ko’s campaign slogan “keep it possible.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The truck can unfold into a makeshift stage for events.
Ko’s campaign office spokesman Tsai Chun-wei (蔡峻維) said the truck was lent to the office for two months by a supporter and that customized design cost only about NT$410,000.
He said the truck could serve as the main stage for upcoming campaign events and that the mobile campaign headquarters was Ko’s idea, allowing him to get closer to city residents by traveling to different places to meet them, and supporters or Ko can give speeches like soapboxes in parks, while saving on campaign costs.
Yao had earlier showcased his campaign truck, which is painted in green and has his name, a large photograph of him and his campaign slogan “trending Taipei” printed on one side, and a large LED screen on the other side, which can also open up to become a stage.
“Someone seems to be copying me,” Yao said, adding that his truck has been driving on the streets since Oct. 3.
Asked why he has yet to set up his campaign headquarters, Yao said he and 27 DPP city councilor candidates have established a joint campaign headquarters, so he has been questioning the need for an individual headquarters.
Yao’s campaign office spokesman Hung Li-chi (洪立齊) said that Yao had applied to hold a campaign activity at Lioukong Park, but it was rejected by the city government, which said that campaign activities could not be held in public parks prior to the election period.
Hung said Ko appears to have double standards when it comes to his opponents.
Yao said he would not hold election campaign events under the guise of other type of activity.
Accusing Ko of hypocrisy, Yao said his behavior is typical of the deceitful and ambiguous political culture that the public hates.
Asked whether Saturday’s event is actually a campaign event, Ko said that it is a “fun fair” and would conform to regulations on holding events in public parks, such as not raising flags, wearing campaign vests and chanting slogans.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods