Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is scheduled to visit the US in March, sparking speculation that he is preparing to run for president in 2020.
US officials have arranged for Ko — who is to be sworn in today for his second term — to visit in March so that they can get to know Taiwanese political leaders, sources familiar with the matter said.
Taipei City Government spokesman Liu Yi-ting (劉奕霆) on Sunday confirmed that Ko would visit the US in the spring, but added that the itinerary was still being planned.
Photo: Chen Pei-yao, Taipei Times
The US does not publicly discuss people’s visa applications due to privacy laws, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokeswoman Amanda Mansour said.
The city government has not requested help from central government agencies that handle foreign affairs, a national security official said on condition of anonimity, adding that it is normal for the heads of local governments or political parties to make overseas visits.
After he focused on relations with China during his first term, Ko planning to visit the US shortly after the start of his second term makes it appear he is sending a message to the US that he is not pro-China, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said on Sunday.
Visits to the US by a Taipei mayor are associated with plans for a presidential bid, Wang said, adding that Ko’s trip leads people to this conclusion even if it is not his intention.
The DPP did not do well in last month’s elections, so politicians are emboldened, he said.
Wang said that over the next few months, many politicians, such as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), would likely visit the US or China.
It is worth observing whether Ko’s overseas visit carries the same significance as the visits of other politicians, he said.
Ko’s intention can be discerned through his itinerary, DPP Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said.
Surveying municipal infrastructure, exchanging ideas on medical practice, participating in events hosted by overseas Taiwanese communities or attracting businesses to Taipei would be in line with Ko’s position as mayor, Chiu said, but added that visiting diplomatic and defense think tanks or the US Department of State would not.
In March 2016, Ko made his first trip to the US as mayor, leading a delegation of city officials and business leaders to San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles to learn from US businesses.
Speculation about whether Ko might launch a 2020 presidential bid re-emerged after his re-election and he reiterated in the opening address to the Taipei-Shanghai forum on Wednesday last week that “the two sides of the Strait are one family.”
At a news conference on Thursday last week, Ko spoke of the need for a new term to describe cross-strait relations due to the so-called “1992 consensus” and “one family” having acquired bad connotations.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS