Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday sought to downplay a remark he made a day earlier that he would have people who oppose his policies “arrested,” saying it was directed at “irrational” people who oppose the implementation of government policies.
Asked about public criticism of the city’s Borough and Neighborhood Traffic Improvement Plan, Ko on Thursday said the city government could bypass public opinion and arrest those who oppose the policy after its implementation.
Taipei Department of Transportation officials said that residents living in alleys who refuse to have yellow lines painted outside their doors, which would force them to share parking spaces with others, are a main factor behind the project’s slow progress.
Responding to reporters’ queries after emergency evacuation drills at Taipei 101, Ko yesterday changed his tone and said he would have officials reason with these people, but if they protest “very irrationally,” he would start dealing with them via legal channels.
He said that given that a majority of Taipei residents live in alleys, the traffic improvement plan, which addresses traffic flows in alleys, should be given a higher level of importance than projects to alleviate traffic on central arteries.
“This is what will truly make a difference to people’s lives,” Ko said.
Asked whether his plan to give out prize money to postgraduate students whose dissertations can produce useful analyses based on statistics compiled by the traffic department meant he was trying to cover up his administration’s failure to alleviate Taipei’s traffic congestion, Ko said it was aimed at encouraging people to utilize data published by the city government under the city’s open data policy.
Citing HackNTU, a “hackathon” organized by National Taiwan University to encourage students to contribute to improving government policies, Ko said the city government would follow the event’s direction to encourage academics to make meaningful use of its data.
Asked if the plan would hurt the morale of department officials, given that the department had already contracted private firms to conduct research on Taipei’s traffic, Ko said the two projects to outsource research are not mutually exclusive.
He said the city government would publish more data regarding its disaster readiness and traffic to tap into the public’s research capacity.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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