Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), saying he owes Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) nothing, yesterday reiterated his rejection of the corporation’s demand that the municipal government provide documents showing that its subsidiary company won a bid to build an electronics shopping mall in the capital.
“During the election, I never took your money and I do not owe you anything,” Ko said, adding that the municipal government would handle affairs in accordance with its own principles.
On Monday, Hon Hai took out a front-page advertisement in six major Chinese-language newspapers that demanded that the local government, within 48 hours, make public all documents relating to its subsidiary’s bid for the Syntrend Creative Park (三創園區) project. The technology group said it would cease construction on the site until the municipal government affirmed the bid’s legality.
Photo: CNA
Ko yesterday reiterated that the Taipei City Government would handle the case at its own pace, referring all related documents to a new Clean Government Commission for investigation.
Ko also outlined the rules for the commission, set to be established this week ahead of his administration’s original March target date.
While the local government previously had a Clean Government Commission, the commission is being reorganized to allow greater public participation, Ko said.
While government officials previously held a majority of the seats on the commission, they make up just a third of the new 21-member commission.
Ko yesterday named eight commissioners he wants to appoint from outside the government, including an author, an economics professor, a civic activist and lawyers. He said the six remaining commissioners would be chosen in an open process in which city residents would be able to vote on the final choices.
Commission members will be charged with investigating controversies surrounding several development projects that were launched under the previous administration, including the Taipei Dome (台北大巨蛋), the Taipei New Horizon (臺北文創) complex, the MeHAS City (美河市) residential project and the Taipei Twin Towers (雙子星).
Taipei Department of Government Ethics Commissioner Liu Ming-wu (劉明武) said that the commissioners’ powers would be expanded to bring them to the “front line” of the investigations.
While previous commissioners relied on materials prepared by the department’s investigation unit, the new commissioners would have the power to requisition documents and conduct interviews themselves, Liu said.
Meanwhile, Ko said the capital has already arrived at a consensus on its negotiating position with Taipei Dome contractor Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設). Ko said Taipei would work to adjust the contract terms on 39 points that were flagged as questionable in 2009 by the Control Yuan.
Taipei Dome project executive secretary Hu Pei-lun (胡培倫) said the Control Yuan’s 39 points cover a number of adjustments to the original contract that were disadvantageous to the government, including reducing penalties for contract violations to a level that Ko called “ridiculous” over the weekend.
Farglory refused to respond to demands from the previous administration that the offending articles be revised, Hu said, adding that the contract changes require the agreement of both parties.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
RSS