Candidates in the Kaohsiung mayoral election shared their campaign platforms yesterday in a televised two-hour debate that focused on the ability to direct municipal affairs, visions for city development, attitudes toward corruption and positions on localization issues.
During the cross-questioning session, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Chu (
Huang, who was the deputy mayor of Kaohsiung between 1995 and 1998, said that he had made Kaohsiung Harbor more accessible to the city during his tenure.
PHOTO:HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
He also said that he believed it takes longer than one mayoral term to implement policies.
Huang questioned Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) candidate Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) about how he planned to solve the city's debt burden, which, according to Huang, has risen to about NT$200 billion (US$6 billion) this year.
In response, Lo said he would be able to reduce the city's financial burden by bringing more industries to the city, which would increase its output value.
Lo then questioned Huang over the use of his special allowance during his tenure as deputy mayor.
Huang said he always endeavored to use public funds in an honest manner.
When Chen asked Lo who the best mayoral candidate would be given the importance of continuing the "pro-localization regime," Lo criticized the DPP's move to urge him to withdraw from the race as political "tactics."
Chen, Lo and Huang also discussed direct transportation links with China.
Chen said the direct links would not benefit traditional industries in Kaohsiung, and therefore the most important task at hand was to create more value-added industries.
Lo said allowing the direct links would only help the northern regions of the country.
Huang, however, said that Kaohsiung would sacrifice its future without the direct links.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
RSS