Four of the five Taipei mayoral candidates yesterday squared off in their second televised policy presentation, with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) and independent candidate Lee Hsi-kun (李錫錕) criticizing Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) over the cancelation of annual cash payouts to senior residents and the stalled Taipei Dome project.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Pasuya Yao (姚文智) was absent from the presentation, as he was attending a campaign parade at which he announced that he would resign from his lawmaker post to focus on the election.
Ko, an independent candidate seeking re-election, said he scrapped the annual Double Ninth Festival cash payments to senior residents to build a lasting and comprehensive care system for the elderly, such as government-funded vaccinations, senior citizen cards that are charged with NT$480 every month to encourage them to be physically active and meal-sharing stations to keep them connected to society.
Photo: Shen Pei-yao, Taipei Times
The city still distributes cash to elderly residents from low and middle-income households, he said.
Many of the issues related to the city’s stalled construction projects stem from high election spending, complicated relationships between the local government and businesses, and an opaque decisionmaking mechanism, Ko said.
He did not choose the problematic location of the Taipei Dome, did not hand over the plot worth tens of billions of New Taiwan dollars to the contractor with zero royalty payments, nor allowed it to change the blueprint after the contract was signed, Ko said, adding that his administration had to halt the construction because it was illegal and unsafe.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Ting accused Ko of lying to gain the support of both the pan-green and pan-blue camps.
Ko has failed to deliver on many of the campaign promises he made for the 2014 election, Ting said, adding that Ko lacks a global vision, leadership skills and clear political views.
Ting said he is experienced in pushing forward bills, so he is confident that he can speed up urban renewal efforts and attract investment.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Praising Ko for his hardworking character, Lee said Ko is more suited to the position of a department head, but not the mayor, because he lacks vision and the ability to let the city’s economy take flight.
The annual cash payment to elderly residents should be increased to NT$6,000, Lee said.
He promoted his policy of developing a “night-time economy” similar to that of London to boost Taipei’s economy by creating jobs and attracting visitors from abroad.
Independent candidate Wu E-yang (吳萼洋) — who attracted media attention by touting honey lemonade as a panacea to a variety of illnesses and singing on the only televised debate attended by all five candidates broadcast on Public Television Service on Nov. 8 — yesterday urged Taipei residents to vote for him so that he can “train Ko to become the president.”
Ko lacks leniency, wisdom, administrative execution ability and tolerance, but he is smart, learns fast and is fit, Wu said, adding that Ko can be his deputy mayor as part of his training if he is elected.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
RSS