Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said he has no interest in running for president in 2020.
Amid speculation that his recent appearances with legislative candidates have been aimed at building influence for the 2020 polls, Ko told reporters that he never intended to throw his hat in the ring.
“I am just focusing on doing my job well,” he said.
Asked whether he would go back on his word, as campaigning New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) — who on 24 occasions said that he would “serve out his term” — has done, Ko said: “No.”
Ko was equally dismissive to reporters who asked if he had ruled out the possibility of a 2020 run to avoid going up against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), should she win election next month and then seek re-election four years later.
“It is not even 2016 yet and you are already asking me about 2020. Give me a break,” he said.
He said he would worry about whether to run for re-election as mayor in 2017.
As for the analogy he made during a recent interview that the current rivalry between the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was a “war between mammals and dinosaurs,” Ko said the DPP is closer to mammals because it is “cleverer.”
“The DPP knows how to tap into parties across the political spectrum to avoid direct conflict between the pan-green and pan-blue camps. However, the KMT has not proposed such strategies in southern Taiwan,” he said.
Asked about his wife Peggy Chen’s (陳佩琪) remark that the KMT’s plan to ask “celebrity wives” to help salvage its campaign would be “futile,” since otherwise “Ko would not be mayor,” Ko said: “I am too afraid to comment on my wife’s remarks. I respect everything she says.”
Chen was referring to KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s (連勝文) wife, Patty Tsai (蔡依珊), who often appeared with Lien during the campaign for the nine-in-one elections in November last year.
The KMT has said it would ask Chu’s wife, Kao Wan-chien (高婉倩); President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) wife, Chou Mei-ching (周美青); and Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Shiu-chu (洪秀柱), its former presidential candidate, to attend campaign events.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
NEW DESTINATIONS: Marketing campaigns to attract foreign travelers have to change from the usual promotions about Alishan and Taroko Gorge, the transport minister said The number of international tourists visiting Taiwan is estimated to top 8 million by the end of this year, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said yesterday, adding that the ministry has not changed its goal of attracting 10 million foreign travelers this year. Chen made the remarks at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee to brief lawmakers about the ministry’s plan to boost foreign visitor arrivals. Last month, Chen told the committee that the nation might attract only 7.5 million tourists from overseas this year and that when the ministry sets next year’s goal, it would not include