The two main candidates in next month's Taipei mayoral election clashed over public order, traffic ticketing and localization in their second televised debate yesterday.
After fielding questions from a panel of journalists and an academic, DPP candidate Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) and Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT questioned each other about their policies.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Against the backdrop of the killing of KMT Taipei City Councilor Chen Chin-chi (
Chen was shot four times in front of a Shihlin restaurant at lunchtime on Saturday.
At the beginning of the debate, Ma apologized to the Taipei public for Chen's slaying.
Condemning the murder, Lee accused Ma of failing to keep order in the city.
"The murder is another example of Taipei City's deteriorating public order under Ma's mayoral tenure," Lee said.
Lee questioned Ma's record in controlling the city's police force and cracking down on such things as Ecstasy use following scandals involving police corruption. Lee said violent crime had increase by 20 percent since Ma took office.
Ma responded that Taipei City had less crime than the nation's other four major cities.
In yesterday's debate, Lee also kept on the offensive over garbage bags, restating his pledge to halve the price of the bags if he is elected.
Ma was quick to reject Lee's proposal, saying he would not change the price of trash bags as it includes not just the trash bags but also the cost of processing the trash.
"[The present price of the trash bags] is an ideal tool to help reduce the amount of waste the city produces as well as to increase the recycling rate," Ma said.
When asked by panel member Rick Chu (
Ma replied that though he did not object to the idea, some names should be kept for historical reasons.
The two candidates were at odds, however, over plans for Taipei's Sungshan Airport, with Ma accusing Lee of presenting proposals that are not feasible.
"No matter how I work out the math, I don't see how is it possible that, as Lee claims, it would take only 24 minutes for people to travel between Taipei and CKS International Airport, where Lee proposes relocating Sungshan Airport," Ma said, adding that based on his own estimation, it would take at least one hour to cover the distance.
Lee said that the difference in calculations was a result of using different points of reference.
"I am right in my statistics if Ma were to start the calculation from the same point," Lee said.
He said that once the high-speed rail link is completed, it would take only about 10 minutes to travel from Taipei to Taoyuan.
The debate then moved on to the number of traffic tickets issued in Taipei, with Lee accusing Ma's administration of using the law to generate money for city coffers.
Lee said the 4.8 million tickets written in the past year was a record and earned the administration about NT$4.4 billion.
Ma said that the strict enforcement of traffic laws was the best way to reduce the number of people breaking the law.
Both candidates said afterward they were happy with their performances in the debate, with Ma telling a press conference that everything had gone according to plan. The Lee camp said its candidate's performance had exceeded expectations.
According to a poll conducted by TVBS following yesterday's debate, 66 percent of respondents said that Ma had performed better than his contender, while 14 percent thought Lee had done better. The remaining 20 percent had no preference.
Although Lee had expressed a desire to hold a third debate, Ma said at his press conference that two debates would be enough, especially as both of them will appear again in two televised presentations in which they will outline their visions and policies. The presentations, sponsored by the Central Election Commission, will be held on Friday and Dec. 1.
Also on the panel were editor in chief of the United Evening News Fu Yi-ping (
Also see story:
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
The US House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, which aims to disincentivize Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by cutting Chinese leaders and their family members off from the US financial system if Beijing acts against Taiwan. The bipartisan bill, which would also publish the assets of top Chinese leaders, was cosponsored by Republican US Representative French Hill, Democratic US Representative Brad Sherman and seven others. If the US president determines that a threat against Taiwan exists, the bill would require the US Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on funds held by certain members of the
RSS