Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) election campaign office yesterday announced members of its financial supervisory committee and its campaign expenditures so far as Ko urged other mayoral candidates to follow suit.
Ko asked for a two-hour leave from Taipei City Council to attend a news conference at the office, saying that his campaign expenditures for the 2014 election were publicized by then-campaign office director and political commentator Yao Li-ming (姚立明).
As Yao in March questioned his previous campaign spending, Ko said he decided to hold an open audition and establish a financial supervisory committee to monitor his spending this year.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Office spokesman Lin Hsiao-chi (林筱淇) said four of the total seven committee members were recruited through interviews and three were appointed by Ko, adding that the committee aims to make the expenditures more transparent.
The office said that it has so far raised NT$41.7 million (US$1.35 million) from July 3 to Sept. 30, and spent a total of NT$15.14 million.
Ko said he also took out a NT$20 million mortgage on his house, adding that he does not plan to raise any more funding for the campaign, and hopes to offset the spending with the election subsidy of NT$30 per vote.
Wu Chia-Yuan (吳嘉沅), a committee member and Social Impact Institute of Taiwan chairperson, said the committee members would monitor the legitimacy of the campaign’s financial sources and make sure the funds are put to good use.
The NT$48,000 fine that the Taipei City Government imposed on the office for parking a campaign truck in Qixing Park (七星公園) in Beitou District (北投) would not be covered by public donations, Wu said
Ko said the political principles of “open government, and open and transparent public participation” that he often repeats are not only slogans, but are principles that he implements.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS