The public wants to know President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) definition of “Taiwanese values,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Ko on Friday said in a television interview that he is waiting for Tsai to turn in her “exam papers,” referring to her policy plans, to decide whether he will support her in next year’s presidential and legislative elections.
Tsai yesterday said that her “report card will be for the people to review, not for a certain politician or a political party.”
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Later in the day, reporters approached Ko at a traditional pudu (普渡, “universal salvation”) ceremony in Taipei for comments on Tsai’s remark.
“Of course [her remark] is correct, but I believe every person in Taiwan really wants to know what President Tsai’s ‘Taiwanese values’ are,” he said.
“She used to ask other people, now it is her turn to answer other people’s questions,” Ko added, referring to a TV interview in January last year in which Tsai, then the chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was asked whether the party would support Ko in the mayoral election in November, to which Tsai said that Ko should reaffirm his “Taiwanese values” so that DPP supporters can know that he is someone they can cooperate with.
When asked whether he has discussed the possibility of cooperation with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) for next year’s election, Ko said it depends on whether a cooperation can create values that are demanded by the public.
Wang earlier yesterday reiterated that he would “seek to be president until the very end.”
Ko was asked whether Wang’s attitude might affect their cooperation.
“It depends on how Taiwanese mainstream opinion develops and what the market wants at the end,” he said. “I realized that for ideas to combine, everyone involved should be willing to compromise a little to achieve the bigger goal, because if everyone insists on their idea, then it would be difficult to achieve.”
However, Ko denied he meant for Wang to compromise, saying that his attitude toward working with Gou and Wang remains the same, which is: “Let nature take its course.”
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS