Internet searches about a proposal by Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to build a free economic zone in the city spiked after Han argued with New Power Party Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (黃捷) over the plan at a city council meeting on Friday.
Huang demanded clarification on the details of the proposed economic zone, asking: “Specifically what [economic] restrictions does the city government hope to ease?”
Han of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that he would provide a detailed report within two days.
Photo: Hung Su-chin, Taipei Times
When pressed for more details, he said: “I am going to make Kaohsiung rich, okay?”
He repeated the same answer as Huang continued to grill him.
“The main goal is to make Kaohsiung rich,” Han said, adding: “I just hope to make Kaohsiung rich, that is my goal.”
Han’s inability to provide concrete details left Taiwanese to research the specifics of the proposed zone on their own, members of the Facebook group “No KMT is Good” (打馬悍將粉絲團) said.
The KMT had made similar proposals in the past, but Han has made the concept even more vague, they said.
“A free economic zone will simply be a place for the Chinese to run rampant,” an Internet user wrote.
“The Chinese will get rich and Taiwanese will be left eating dirt,” another wrote.
Some users said that the proposal is a rehash of a plan suggested by KMT lawmakers during the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), which failed to pass, despite the party having a legislative majority at the time.
“It is impossible to know everything, so if you do not know, it is okay to say: ‘I don’t know,’” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said on Saturday when reached for comment on Han’s refusal to provide the plan’s specifics.
Internet fitness celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢) said that Han was “all talk and no action.”
“It is as if someone asked me how to become stronger and all I told them was: ‘Go to the gym and you will naturally become stronger,’” he said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS