Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has claimed that a potential collaboration with the Democratic Progressive Party for the mayoral election fell through because President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is being controlled by certain members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a report by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) said yesterday.
Sources said that at a meeting with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on Tuesday last week, Ko said that Tsai originally wanted to collaborate with him in the November mayoral election, but that she is now being controlled by the “empress,” referring to Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊), and the “prince,” referring to the DPP’s former New Tide faction, the report said.
Ko also told Wang that if he did not win re-election, he would return to work as a doctor.
Asked about his meeting with Wang, Ko yesterday said: “I met with former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng last week mainly to discuss the Taiwan Healthcare+ EXPO that is to be held at the end of the year.”
He said he also discussed political history with Wang, whom he described as a “living dictionary of the Republic of China’s [ROC] modern political history.”
The report in the Liberty Times was “a bit exaggerated,” as he and Wang just had a private conversation, he said.
Asked whether he made the comments about Tsai, Ko said: “I do not want to tell you.”
He added that he does not know if Tsai still supports him, but he would “cross that bridge” when he comes to it.
Each political party has its own factions, and that is not something he can deal with, Ko said.
Asked why a number of former Taipei City Government officials are publicly criticizing him, Ko said that former officials would not have left their posts if they had adapted to the administrative team’s operating style.
Wang also declined to talk about his conversation with Ko.
He said that they had a pleasant conversation and that Ko had asked him how he managed to deal with issues at the Legislative Yuan.
He said that he explained to Ko the importance of establishing personal credibility so that legislators believed that he would deliver on his promises and that they could work together based on mutual trust.
Wang added that Ko understands that he supports Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), and that he could not comment on whether Ko would return to being doctor if he loses the election.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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