Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and more than 70 Taipei City Government officials yesterday arrived in Pingtung County on a two-day trip that Ko says is about exchanging administrative experiences and tourism.
After meeting with Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) and county government officials, the two parties listened to reports on their respective administrations in areas including culture, labor, youth innovation and tourism.
Ko and the officials also visited the Craftsman Residential District, an old dormitory area renovated for young entrepreneurs to rent as creative studios, an inclusive playground in a public park, Victorystar Creative Village and the Pingtung Performing Arts Center.
Photo: Lo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
As Ko has been visiting other counties and cities more frequently over the weekends, reporters asked him whether the visit to Pingtung was to gather support for the presidential election.
“It’s not for soliciting votes. It is for exchanging administrative experiences and tourism,” he said.
An opinion poll released on Friday showed that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) support rate has increased to nearly 40 percent if she runs for president against Ko, or either Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) or Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), who are both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hopefuls.
Ko previously said no one would dare challenge Tsai if she had a support rate of more than 40 percent.
Yesterday, he said that opinion polls are like stock prices that fluctuate up and down.
Ko on Thursday complained about the Investment Commission’s decision to rejected Nan Hai Corp’s bid to build the Taipei Twin Towers project, saying that the central government’s “national sovereignty” concerns were “bullshit.”
Tsai on Friday said that national sovereignty is very important, because democracy, freedom and human rights can only be protected by sovereignty.
Ko yesterday said that he does not like Tsai “using national security as a disguise and interpreting it whatever way she likes.”
No one said national security was not important, Ko added.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it