President Chen Shui-bian (
In a meeting with Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
PHOTO: REUTERS
"The relationship between the central and local governments should not be based on antagonism, but on partnership. Attacks and misunderstandings in the past should come to a halt with an aim to welcome a new beginning," Chen said in his meeting with Ma.
The president held separate meetings with Ma and Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
The DPP was soundly defeated in last Saturday's election in Taipei, but held on to Kaohsiung.
Political observers were keeping a close eye on the Chen-Ma meeting given that Ma, who won a landslide 64 percent of the votes in the mayoral race, is said to be the most likely candidate to compete against Chen in the 2004 presidential contest.
The meeting was their second encounter since Chen took office in May 2000.
Their first meeting took place on May 24, 2000, four days after Chen was inaugurated.
Contacts between the two leaders were interrupted, how-ever, due to frayed relations between the central and Taipei City governments.
Chen said he was honored to serve as a mayor of Taipei and was pleased to hand on his mission to Ma.
To turn Taipei into an internationally competitive metropolis, the president urged Ma to cooperate with the central government and to work with leaders of neighboring regions.
The president suggested that Ma turn around the city's deteriorating public order and find out whether the city was trying to generate money by issuing traffic tickets.
Chen said public security would be put at risk if the city's Sungshan Airport was used for direct cross-strait flights.
The DPP and KMT were at odds during the campaign concerning the future of the airport.
Whereas DPP candidate Lee Ying-yuan (
Ma told the president that he welcomes any discussions on the city airport and agrees that national security should be taken into account.
Ma said that he did not mean for the Sungshan Airport to become the first airport to be used for such flights, but simply hoped that it would not be ignored once cross-strait routes are allowed.
The Taipei mayor said that he would considering adopting some of the DPP's campaign promises because "campaign activities are temporary, whereas administration is the only thing that lasts."
In his meeting with Hsieh, Chen restated the government's resolve to place an equal emphasis on the north and the south, but added that central Taiwan is also important.
The distribution of resources has been at the center of debate. DPP Taipei County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (
On Thursday, Su vowed to resign unless Taipei County is also given special status.
The president said any decision should be made based on public input because a unilateral policy imposed by the government would only generate resentment.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS