Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) yesterday accused Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of “ruining the city's economy.”
At a press conference to launch her campaign office, Huang said Chen had failed to improve the city's economy because of her focus on “political ideology.”
PHOTO: CNA
“For example, when everyone in the city was gearing up for a boost in tourism, Chen invited the Dalai Lama to visit and aired a documentary about [Uighur dissident] Rebiya Kadeer in Kaohsiung,” Huang said.
Huang was referring to an invitation extended by seven Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayors and county commissioners to the Tibetan spiritual leader after Typhoon Morakot devastated the southern part of the country in August last year, and the city government's decision to air The 10 Conditions of Love, a 53-minute documentary on Kadeer and her fight to improve human rights in Xinjiang in September.
Huang said Kaohsiung's unemployment rate had topped the list of cities and counties over the past decade, with the latest figures putting unemployment at 5.9 percent.
She said that passenger volume at Kaohsiung International Airport had also been in decline, which she said showed that the city was losing its allure rather than developing.
A number of senior KMT politicians, including Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and former Kaohsiung City Council speaker Chen Tien-mao (陳田錨), voiced their support for Huang at the press conference.
Wang said he hoped the party would overwhelm the DPP in the November election the same way it did during the 2008 legislative election in Kaohsiung County.
Meanwhile, Chen's campaign office highlighted the mayor's achievements in developing the cultural and film industry and attracting investors to the city.
Office deputy director Ting Yun-kong (丁允恭) said Chen had attracted businesses such as Sony and Shogakukan to invest in Kaohsiung.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS