Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) yesterday promoted a street dance event and on Friday opened a new transportation hub, while Deputy Legislative speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate for the city, outlined his policies for economic development, tourism and air pollution reduction as they ramped up their respective mayoral campaigns.
Lu of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is bidding for a second term, but is facing a strong challenge from Tsai, a veteran lawmaker, after they completed their candidate registration requirements ahead of the deadline on Friday last week.
Independent candidate Chen Mei-fei (陳美妃), who registered on the final day, paying the NT$1.5 million (US$48,552) election deposit, has said that she would focus on improving transportation and education in the city, while promising to subsidize household electricity bills.
Photo: CNA
Lu opened the Taichung Cup Street Dance Competition yesterday afternoon, a two-day event featuring teams from across Taiwan.
Taichung is hosting the event for the fourth year, Lu said, adding that it has delightful performances and is full of youthful energy.
She said her administration supports such talented people, who are aiming for glory at the Olympics, which has added breaking for the 2024 Paris Games.
She also presented plans to stimulate the local economy as she attended groundbreaking ceremonies for new factories in the past two days and the launch of operations at a transportation hub in Fengyuan District (豐原).
The facility next to the Fengyuan Railway Station took three years to complete and serves as a major regional bus depot, she said, adding that it has a shopping mall and public parking.
Separately, Tsai outlined his plan to boost tourism in the city’s outskirts as he visited Guguan (谷關), an area with many tourist spots in Heping District (和平).
His “Guguan 300” plan would draw 3 million people each year to the area by building bicycle paths and more pedestrian walkways, as well as by improving transportation by revamping road links and adding car parks, Tsai said.
A water park near the Dajia River (大甲溪), which runs through Guguan, is also part of the plan, he said.
New festivals and other programs would help draw people to the area’s mountains and indigenous communities, revitalizing the local economy, he said.
“This town is a gateway for tourism and development for Taichung’s mountainous areas,” he said. “It is the city’s back garden.”
“However, the current city administration has no vision, no planning for this region,” he said.
“In the past four years, local people have said that city government officials have offered no development plans for Guguan, so it is time for a change,” Tsai said.
“I have the vision and the drive to make it happen, to fulfill the Guguan 300 program,” he said.
He also said that Lu had not done anything to address Taichung’s air pollution problems, adding that they have gotten worse in past four years.
Tsai said that Lu in her previous mayoral campaign handed out “Guguan air bottle” gifts to voters, using them as a symbol of her plans to improve the city’s air quality, vowing it would be as clear as the mountain air of Guguan.
“We now know Lu’s Guguan air bottles were another of her broken campaign promises,” he said.
“I will not use bottled clean air as a stunt to fool voters,” he said. “When elected, I will implement real policies to address this issue, including an end to coal being burned at Taichung’s power plants, and phasing out polluting cars and scooters in the city.”
City government officials told reporters yesterday that Lu’s administration has mitigated air pollution, with regular sampling results showing that air quality has improved this year.
The air bottle campaign showed her determination to fight the city’s pollution problems, the officials said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
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The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
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