Taipei City councilors yesterday showed more interest in Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) rival in the year-end elections when the mayor delivered his policy report to the council.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei Councilor Chin Li-fang (秦儷舫) fired the first salvo at Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate, accusing the two-term Taipei County commissioner of “selling out Taiwan” and “constantly claiming that Taiwan is doomed.”
She said she could not agree less with Su, who had likened Taipei City’s Wanhua District (萬華) to Mexico.
PHOTO: CHEN CHIN-MIN, TAIPEI TIMES
“If his eyes see only dog shit, there will never be a lotus coming out of his mouth,” she said, an oblique reference to a Chinese saying.
Chin said that if Su thought Taipei County was not good enough, he should remember that he was Taipei County commissioner for eight years.
Su, who is in the US, said in Los Angeles on Saturday that in the past some people had described the trip from Taipei City to Taipei County as that from the US to Mexico, and that Taipei County’s Banciao City usually reminded them of the US’ southern neighbor. He added that now some people say that when they travel from Banciao to Wanhua District, they wonder whether they’re in Mexico.
Hau joined the tongue-lashing, saying Su’s remarks highlighted his ignorance of Taipei City and Wanhua, and that Su only knew how to criticize, but never proposed any concrete policies.
“What he said hurts the feelings of Wanhua residents,” Hau said. “It is very inappropriate to attack his own country like that. He must apologize.”
Hau said Su did not seem to understand much about city affairs and if he was so keen to find fault with the city government, he should consider running for city councilor rather than mayor.
KMT Councilor Wang Cheng-de (王正德) said Su did not want to win the November mayoral elections because he had his eyes set on the 2012 presidential poll.
DPP councilors, however, jumped to Su’s defense.
DPP Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said if Hau could not listen to any criticism of himself or the city government, he was nothing but a “self-indulgent ruler.”
DPP Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) denounced Hau for wasting their time by picking on his election rival on the council floor.
In related news, Su and KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) engaged in a war of words, with Su criticizing King for spreading rumors and King arguing that he merely stated the truth.
King, who is also in the US, said he might have described the relationship between Su and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) “too incisively,” but what he said was true.
“When I criticize someone, I always do it openly,” he said. “I wish Su would face public scrutiny rather than dodge it.”
King was referring to a comment he made on Friday that Su and Tsai did not get along when Tsai was vice premier and that residents of Taipei and Sinbei cities would suffer if the two were to be elected.
Su later replied that he came to the US to speak to Taiwanese expatriates and many would be disappointed if “someone came here to spread rumors.”
Su yesterday said King gave him the impression that he was running for the November elections because he did nothing but criticize the DPP candidate.
Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) yesterday chided Su, saying he had a “double personality.”
On the one hand, he declined to jump on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), but on the other hand he berated the president for getting closer to China and distant from Taiwanese people,” he said.
Su said on Sunday that he would not revile the KMT when he was in the US. It was not because there was nothing to criticize, but because it was not worth it, he said.
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