Members of the newly formed political group called the Five and Six United Team (五六聯隊) comprised of 115 young councilors from 24 cities and counties yesterday visited Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to discuss inter-city cooperation and the strategies to consolidate the young votes in next year's presidential campaign.
Forty-five KMT, PFP and nonpartisan councilors wore bright blue T-shirts printed with white characters of their names and the team name at the gathering.
Taitung County Council Speaker Wu Chun-li (
"I hope our young councilors who just stepped into the political ring can learn useful experiences from Mayor Ma, exchange opinions about public works projects and policies and promote the quality of questioning the administration during council sessions," Wu said.
The establishment of the Five and Six United Team was also the second stage of the cooperation between KMT and PFP, said Hualien county councilwoman Hsu hsueh-yu (
"The Five and Six United Team has its sights on next year's presidential campaign. We're aiming at the young voters ... to make sure to retake the reins of government, Hsu said.
Team coach
"Coach" of the team, KMT Legislator Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), encouraged the members to emulate Ma and lauded the Taipei mayor's performance in fiscal management when the local government's budget was cut by the central government.
Wu Den-yih also mentioned that he cooperated with Kao-hsiung County to deal with the garbage problem in his term as Kaoshiung Mayor.
"I borrowed the dumpsite from Kaoshiung County at that time and successfully settled the problem. And now I know Mayor Ma will also use a similar strategy to handle garbage disposal and water supply problems by collaborating with Keelung City," said Wu Den-yih.
Ma, also wearing the blue T-shirt, said the Taipei City Government has allotted 50,000 tonnes of water from the Hsinshan Reservoir to Keelung city.
"If it is not enough, I can even bring in 50,000 tonnes of water from the Feitsui Reservoir to Keelung," Ma said.
Ma emphasized that the Taipei City Government has worked on cooperation and interaction between the cities and counties.
"I visited other cities not just to help with campaigning," Ma said.
"I believe the Five and Six United Team will break the conflict and disagreement between the cities and counties, local and the central government. By doing so, Taiwan is able to gain ground," Ma said.
A Keelung County councilor suggested that Ma take care of Keelung's 60,000 people commuting between Taipei and Keelung when enlarging the mass rapid transit system.
Ma said that the city government has to communicate on the construction project with Taipei County Government because the route involves Taipei.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
RSS