Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) yesterday set off on a one-day “twin-cities” bicycle trip from Taipei to Kaohsiung in a challenge to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) re-election bid.
Chung, who has announced interest in joining the KMT primary for Nov. 24’s Taipei mayoral election, began his trip yesterday morning from Guandu Temple (關渡宮) in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), saying he would take the same route that Ko did in his “twin-tower” bicycle trip on Feb. 28, 2016.
Ko, an independent, completed the 520km ride from Keelung’s Fuguijiao Lighthouse (富貴角燈塔), the nation’s northernmost point, to Oluanpi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔) in Pingtung Country, the southernmost point, in about 28 hours.
Photo: Hsiao Ting-fang, Taipei Times
As Ko finished the 374km “twin-cities” leg in 19 hours and 35 minutes, Chung said he is determined to finish in 18 hours and 30 minutes to symbolize his determination to defeat him.
Standing next to a nearly life-sized cardboard cutout of Ko in front of Guandu Temple yesterday, Chung, in full cycling gear and a helmet, said he chose to begin at the temple, because Ko had passed it during his trip and because it is at the junction of Taipei’s Tamsui River (淡水河) and Keelung River (基隆河).
“‘Water brings fortune,’ so many stock investors come pray for good wealth,” he said. “I did not come to pray for good fortune, but for votes. I want to beat him [Ko] at the end of the year, and return [the KMT] to power in the capital.”
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