Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday dismissed concerns that the government had wrongly rejected Nan Hai Corp’s bid to build the Taipei Twin Towers project after Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Thursday complained about the Investment Commission’s decision and said that the central government’s “national sovereignty” concerns were “bullshit.”
Citing Article 7 of the Statute for Investment by Foreign Nationals (外國人投資條例), the commission on Wednesday overturned the Taipei City Government’s decision to award Nan Hai the contract to build the complex near Taipei Railway Station over concerns that funding might come from China.
“The commission has determined a strong link between the investors and the Chinese market,” commission spokeswoman Yang Shu-ling (楊淑玲) told a news conference.
Photo: Wang Hsuan-ching, Taipei Times
At a forum on Thursday attended by university students, Ko complained about the decision.
“The way I see it, [talk of] national vision and national sovereignty are bullshit,” he said.
Ko was asked to comment on reports that his stance had changed since 2014, when the Ministry of Finance blocked Malaysian investment company IOI Properties Group’s bid to buy Ting Hsin International Group’s shares in Taipei 101, as it suspected Chinese investors were behind IOI.
Ko said he had not changed his stance.
“It took me three seconds at the time, but it took the Democratic Progressive Party five months,” he said.
Asked if he thought President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was behind the commission’s decision, Ko said he did not want to speculate, but added: “If you wanted to invoke national security and sovereignty, you only need three seconds [to make a decision]. You do not need five months.”
“Next time, they should find a better excuse,” he said.
Asked why he disliked Tsai’s leadership style, Ko said that instilling fear and hatred is a cheap but effective way to generate political mobilization, but it harms the nation’s long-term prospects.
Separately yesterday, Su said that national sovereignty is paramount and concerns the safety of all Taiwanese.
Every member of the public sector considers national security to be their most important task, Su said.
Asked to comment on former premier Simon Chang’s (張善政) remarks that Su had abused national sovereignty by troubling Ko with the Taipei Twin Towers situation and Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) over dengue fever in the city and a bid to launch a maritime connection with China, Su said that no one should debase the nation’s sovereignty.
“Any advanced country, such as the US, would not think twice if an investment project was a potential threat to national security,” Su said.
The Taipei Twin Towers project is at the heart of Taipei and is to be a transportation hub where several systems converge, he said.
The bidder is a company suspected of being backed by Chinese funds, so people should applaud the commission for safeguarding the project and national security, he said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS