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.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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