Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has achieved little in terms of municipal construction over the past six years, preferring to devote his time to being a media darling, city councilors from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
During city council's question and answer session yesterday, DPP Councilor Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) presented a survey that found more than 50 percent of the city's bureau directors considered their own performances as "just passable" during the past year.
Lee said even Taipei Deputy Mayor Pai Hsiou-hsiung (
"Mayor Ma relied on his strong support and good looks and paid little attention to municipal constriction, while taking part in too many futile activities that enable him to show off on the TV news," Lee said.
Lee urged the mayor to remedy the problems created by his administration so that he doesn't fall short of citizens' expectations.
Lee then presented Ma with the snack food Guai Guai.
Guai Guai, or "submissive" in English, is a snack popular among children.
Lee asked Ma to receive the food and said the snack's name is the impression Ma has presented Taiwan.
Ma refused to take the snack and told Lee to control his behavior.
Lee's action stemmed from Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai's (
City bureau directors, dubbed "Ma's troops," said Chen Chi-mai's remarks were inappropriate and flippant.
City spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (
Responding to a question from DPP City Councilor Chou Wei-yu (
Ma said the foundation often holds activities for college students and that these activities had been going on for some time.
But Chou said the camps featuring cross-strait affairs were Ma's first step to widen his support south of the Chuoshui River (濁水溪).
"I would like to stress again that there are no `Ma's troops' in the city government. Only pan-blue camp troops exist," Ma said.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
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