The trend of Taiwanese being “toyed with” and “bullied” into an “obedient people” was reversed by the rout the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) suffered in the November 2014 nine-in-one elections, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said.
Ko made the remarks on Sunday during a lecture at the Ketagalan Institute, which was founded by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2003 to nurture a new generation of politically adept professionals.
“I have performed genetic research, and personality is related to DNA. In animal experiments, when tame dogs are mated with other tame dogs, the resulting offspring were ever tamer,” Ko said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“From the anti-Dutch rebellion led by Kuo Huai-yi (郭懷一) to rebellions during the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese colonial era, Taiwanese have stubbornly resisted colonial authorities, but in every revolt they were caught and culled, resulting in all the brave being killed, leaving only obedient people,” Ko said. “I am a mutated specimen; at least that is what I say to console myself.”
However, the 2014 elections “changed the story, as the nation began to recover its confidence,” Ko said.
Ko, the former director of National Taiwan University Hospital’s (NTUH) Department of Traumatology, said he left the hospital to run for Taipei mayor in 2014 because he wanted to “call young people into action” and “defeat the party-state system.”
“Taiwan’s confidence as a maritime nation must now be rediscovered,” because 400 years ago Taiwanese were pirates and brave immigrants, which in theory should have “suffused their bloodlines with the entrepreneurial spirit,” Ko said.
Ko said that during the mayoral race, he campaigned on a bicycle, and since taking office in December 2014 he has repeatedly taken on “difficult challenges and dared to do what has never been done in order to bring back confidence at a subconscious level” for Taiwanese.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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