Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday encouraged People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to “stride fearlessly forward” in his presidential bid, but declined to say if he would support Soong.
Ko was in the morning asked to comment on Soong’s widely expected bid, which Soong announced later in the day.
Ko said that he had been discussing with his aides about what pleasantries to put on flowers he would send to Soong’s news conference, finally deciding on the Chinese idiom “stride fearlessly forward” (勇往直前).
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The latest issue of Chinese-language Want Weekly magazine, published yesterday, cited an anonymous source as saying that Soong had wanted to cooperate with Ko in next year’s legislative elections and even considered nominating him to run for president, but the plans were abandoned after Ko formed the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in August.
While Ko has said that forming the TPP was a spur-of-the-moment decision, the source said that Ko had been planning it for about four months and had secretly “poached” the PFP’s talent, such as asking then-PFP Taipei City Councilor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) to become a Taipei deputy mayor and former PFP Taipei city councilor Lin Kuo-cheng’s (林國成) daughter Lin Chen-yu (林珍羽) to become TPP spokeswoman.
According to the source, many of Ko’s fan clubs in southern Taiwan were established by PFP members, so some PFP members think that Ko had been intentionally “deceiving” the party, the magazine said, adding that Soong’s decision to run for president again is aimed at preventing the PFP legislative caucus from unraveling.
Ko, who is also TPP chairman, said that Soong’s presidential bid would likely affect the TPP’s number of legislator-at-large seats.
However, if everyone does what they do best, it would be in the nation’s best interest, Ko said, adding that while the TPP would do its best in the final 60 days before the election, he would still give his blessing to Soong.
Ko cited Soong as telling him that rather than let the two largest parties bicker, his participation in the presidential election would allow him to have a say in more important issues.
However, asked if he would support Soong, with whom he used to have a good relationship, in the presidential election, Ko said that he would send his blessings to Soong.
The presidential election is conducted by secret ballot, he said, brushing off the question.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
RSS