Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that he is not criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to gain votes for his Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in the Jan. 11 elections, but because he believes there is a standard for what is right.
The existence of “third force” parties means that the two major parties are not doing a good job, added Ko, who is also the founder and chairman of the TPP.
He made the remarks in response to media queries about why he often criticizes Presidential Office Secretary-General and former Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the DPP, and whether criticizing the pan-blue and pan-green camps is part of his election strategy.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
On Friday, Ko said that one of the reasons Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, “escaped” from Kaohsiung to run for president was because of the high public debt left by Chen’s administration.
Han on Sunday said that Kaohsiung has the most difficult financial situation in Taiwan, so he is grateful to Ko for always speaking up for him.
Ko yesterday said that Chen should explain how the debt was created and how it affects the city’s administration.
DPP Legislator Chung Kung-chao (鍾孔炤), a former Kaohsiung Labor Affairs Bureau director, on Sunday posted two charts on Facebook explaining how Chen was forced to self-finance several infrastructure development projects, as the then-KMT-led central government did not provide enough funding.
He wrote that Chen repaid more debt than the debt created during her term as mayor, so the high debt was caused by the then-KMT-led central government failing to keep its funding promises.
The city government led by Han has increased public debt by NT$6.4 billion (US$211.5 million) this year, he added.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe