Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that his remark that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had paid NT$1 million (US$33,076), or 10 times the price he was quoted, to collaborate with a YouTube personality was just a “metaphor.
Ko said in an interview with the Chinese-language China Times on Tuesday that former Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明), who was the news director of Ko’s 2014 mayoral election campaign and a former Taipei City Government spokesman, had taken his online campaign strategies to the Presidential Office, and now has access to 100 times the resources he previously had.
Ko said that when he asked an aide why he should pay NT$100,000 to collaborate with a YouTuber, his aide told him that the Internet personality had charged Tsai NT$1 million, so they were already receiving a special discount.
Ko said he still refused to pay the amount.
Lin yesterday morning commented on Ko’s remarks on Facebook, writing: “Mayor Ko, when I worked at the Taipei City Government, you said you abhorred people lying to you. I am telling you today that you have been lied to by your aide.”
Ko should ask his aide whether they have proof that Tsai had paid NT$1 million to a YouTuber and should clarify the misleading remarks if they do not, as it is unfair to Tsai, Lin wrote.
Ko yesterday said that people can clearly see how much money the Democratic Progressive Party has spent on election campaigns and that the elections are an “unequal battle,” as even though he also collaborates with YouTubers, his rival has “100 times the resources” that he has.
“The online community was ‘purer’ during the 2014 [local] elections, because while some YouTubers charged fees for collaboration at the time, the practice has now become an industry,” Ko said, adding that there are also fewer voluntary members of “Internet armies,” as most of them now ask to be paid.
Asked why the YouTuber might have charged Tsai 10 times the price quoted to him, Ko said: “It was only a metaphor,” adding that he cannot tell the exact figure, as it is a “trade secret.”
Asked why he mentioned the sum of NT$1 million during the interview, Ko said, stammering: “I have developed selective amnesia.”
Asked about his remark that he would move the Presidential Office to Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area if he were to become president, Ko said that the Presidential Office Building served as the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period, so it causes “historical confusion.”
A building that had served a similar purpose in South Korea was torn down after the Japanese colonial period had ended, he said.
In case China launches a “decapitation strike” against the president, the armed forces’ Joint Operations Command Center is in Dazhi, Ko said, adding that the president could live in the military camp and turn the Presidential Office Building into a hotel.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS