Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
On Wednesday, the Legislature Yuan approved the budget for flood control measures along the Keelung River, but excluded an opposition proposal to finance Taipei City to the tune of NT$1.98 billion for the flood-proofing project.
Lawmakers also suggested that the Cabinet grant Taipei City NT$350 million for the treatment of the Neigou Creek (
After stressing on Wednesday that the legislature was risking the lives of Taipei residents, Ma yesterday leveled more severe criticism at the ruling party, which favors cutting Taipei City out of the NT$1.98 billion budget proposal, saying that the absurdity could be attributed entirely to political struggles.
"If everybody viewed things professionally, we wouldn't be wasting the people's time and money the way we are," Ma said.
In order to ensure the safety of residents and their property Ma said that building floodways along the Huang Creek, which is an upstream affluent of the Keelung River -- is necessary because the river is simply too narrow to absorb floodwaters.
Taking the Erchung Floodway (
In addition, Ma said, the Executive Yuan supports a flood diversion project of building floodways at Juifang (瑞芳), Taipei County. The floodways will funnel floodwaters from the Keelung River to the Pacific Ocean.
If the construction of floodways along the Huang Creek was delayed due to political struggle, Ma said, residents of Peitou (
Hwang Jing-san (
The Keelung River controversy continues to ripple through the campaign for Taipei City mayor.
Wednesday morning, after meeting with DPP Taipei City councilors, the DDP's Taipei mayoral candidate Lee Ying-yuan (
The City government later bashed Lee for his stance.
Yesterday afternoon, accompanied by dozens of Taipei residents, KMT City Councilwoman Li-Keng Kuei-fang (厲耿桂芳) and independent city councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) blocked Lee in a hallway and demanded that he return the budget for the treatment of the Keelung River to city residents.
Chuag claimed that he was hurt in the ensuing chaos after being pushed by Lee's security guards.
Lee remained silent while being blocked by the crowd. Later, he said that he saw the stand-off as the councilors' public show, made to attract voter attention.
"I would like to debate city policies with them in the future at the city council," Lee said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS