Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday rejected a rumor that he had recently met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
A political commentator said that after Tsai won the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential primary on Thursday, she met with Ko, promising to allow him to run Taipei smoothly in exchange for him not running for president.
Ko said that the last time he met with Tsai was in December last year, when Cabinet officials met with city government officials near the city’s historic North Gate (北門).
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“After the meeting at the North Gate, I did not even see her in my dreams,” he said. “I do not think she would want to meet with me, either.”
Tsai, while visiting Kinmen County yesterday, also rejected the rumor.
In other news, Ko on Friday sparked debate when, in response to media queries about Tsai winning the primary, he said: “Congratulations to the empress.”
“Saying ‘congratulations’ would be enough, the words after that could be omitted. After all, we are a democratic country,” Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), said on Facebook that afternoon.
Political talk show host Ines Chen (陳凝觀) said on Facebook that night that “Ko sarcastically commented that Tsai is an empress, but he has never dared to make comments about Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who has been perceived by the international community as an emperor.”
“Is it because Ko lacks global perspective? Or is it that Ko only dares to criticize his political opponents and shuts up when he sees the People’s Republic of China or emperor Xi?” she wrote. “If Ko does not dare respond, then he is an opportunistic politician.”
“We live in Taiwan and are concerned about what happens here, so sometimes I make some critical remarks,” Ko said yesterday.
“As for Xi being the emperor in Beijing, what does it have to do with me? We care more about what happens around us. Taiwan is our hometown, of course I care more about Taiwan’s affairs,” he said.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
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
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
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
RSS