Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that he visited the Central Election Committee (CEC) on Tuesday afternoon to explain to his parents his decision not to register as a presidential candidate.
Ko on Tuesday morning said that he did not have time to prepare a campaign and would not register as an independent candidate for next year’s election.
However, he was seen outside the committee’s office shortly after the 5:30pm deadline for independent candidate registration, sparking speculation.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
At about that time, former Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislator Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲) was arguing with committee staff, saying that she had Ko’s national identification card and wanted to register him as a candidate, despite being told that the deadline had passed.
Asked why he was at the office, Ko said that many passionate supporters had continued to urge him to run for president and had invited his mother to accompany them as they registered him as a candidate, so he went to “take her away.”
“My mother represents the anxiety of Taiwanese over the situation, as she called me in the morning to ask what we should do after [Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder] Terry Gou (郭台銘) decided not to run for president,” Ko said, adding that he told her that Taiwan is not in such a dangerous situation.
Taking out his national identification card from his wallet, Ko jokingly said that fortunately, he always keeps his identification card with him, otherwise other people could have registered him as a candidate.
“I never had much intention to run for president,” he said, adding that he found it interesting that about half of his aides — mostly those younger than 50 — did not support him running for president.
Asked if he had recently approached People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), Ko said that he contacted Soong about wanting to meet, but Soong told him that they should wait until “the situation is settled after Sept. 17.”
Asked about speculation that he might ask the PFP to nominate him as its presidential candidate and whether he intends to cooperate with the party, Ko said that he has good personal ties with Soong, so it would depend on what the cooperation is for.
Ko said that strategically, he believes he has a better chance of being elected than Gou, but added that he does not like the idea of leaving his duties as mayor at the beginning of a term to run for president, which has not happened in Taipei’s history.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS