Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is being unfriendly to him, even as it has been reported to want to cooperate with him.
The remark came after Taipei Department of Information and Tourism Commissioner Chen Su-yu (陳思宇), an ardent supporter of Ko, on Friday registered to contest the legislative seat representing Taipei’s Shilin (士林) and Datong (大同) districts, which was left empty after former DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao (姚文智) resigned last month to focus on his mayoral campaign.
The move was interpreted by the media as a signal that reported DPP attempts to cooperate with Ko have failed.
Photo: CNA
Media have speculated that the DPP would extend an olive branch to Ko after it suffered bruising defeats in the Nov. 24 elections, in which the party did not support Ko for re-election, but no concrete efforts have been reported.
The DPP’s New Taipei City chapter on Friday announced that Taipei Deputy Mayor Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) violated party discipline when he stood on stage at one of Ko’s election campaign events and asked people to vote for Ko.
The chapter said it would pass the case on to a party panel, which would decide how to deal with Chen.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
When asked about Chen’s possible punishment or expulsion by the DPP, Ko said that the case highlights some of the problems he has identified.
The rumors that the DPP wants to cooperate with him are contradicted by this and many similar unfriendly gestures, Ko said.
“I think you should let go of such matters after an election, not say you want to cooperate, but meanwhile punish Chen and have the Ministry of Culture criticize the Taipei City Government,” he said.
Ko said he has always been confused about who in the DPP really makes decisions.
Even the culture ministry does not seem to agree with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), he added, referring to a meeting with Tsai on Thursday.
At the event, Ko told Tsai that culture ministry projects to develop a railway and a postal museum in Taipei are progressing too slowly and might be finished earlier if led by the municipality.
The suggestion prompted the ministry to issue a rebuke, calling his remarks “clearly inconsistent with the facts.”
When asked about political pundits’ claims that Ko had not wished to meet with Tsai on Thursday, Ko said he was not opposed to meeting, but could not trust that Tsai would keep her word.
In business, it is useless to speak with a company’s boss if its staff are not willing to execute the deal, Ko said.
For the same reason, any deal reached at the meeting would have been useless, seeing as the culture ministry criticized him immediately after he asked the government for assistance on the projects, he added.
Among other mixed signals, Taipei has invited city councilors and academics to attend the Taipei-Shanghai twin-city forum in the city on Thursday, but not one DPP city councilor or academic has registered to attend, Ko said.
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