President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that her meeting with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) tomorrow would focus on how the central and local governments can work together on infrastructure projects, not possible collaboration between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Ko in the run-up to a Taipei legislative by-election.
Tsai made the remark during a question-and-answer session with reporters at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.
The legislative by-election is to he held on Jan. 27 to fill a seat vacated by former DPP legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智), who last month resigned to focus on the Taipei mayoral race.
Politics is not something that would be discussed at the meeting, Tsai said.
The meeting is between her as president, and Ko as Taipei mayor, she said.
Tsai said that she is not the party’s chairperson, nor is Ko the representative of any political force.
The focus of the meeting should return to the roles they each play, as well as their mutual cooperation in fulfilling their responsibility toward the public, she added.
The Presidential Office on Monday said that the president would meet with the mayors-elect of the nation’s six special municipalities.
Tsai had called the six mayors elected on Nov. 24 to congratulate them, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.
Competition between political parties is normal in a democracy, and the central and local governments must collaborate to promote public welfare, Huang cited her as saying at the time.
The purpose of the planned meetings is to bring together the central and local governments to enhance public welfare, Huang said, adding that based on that foundation, Tsai and her administration would strive to do what is beneficial for the public and local development.
The meetings are expected to take place before the inauguration of the six mayors-elect on Dec. 25, he said.
Issues the Tsai-Ko meeting would touch on include how the central government and the Taipei City Government can collaborate on social housing, residents’ safety, city development, urban renewal and renovation of old residential buildings, he added.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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