New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), both candidates in next year’s presidential election, yesterday made a rare appearance together at the premiere of a documentary in Taipei.
The arrival of Hou and Ko in quick succession to an already crowded screening room caused a commotion as reporters scrambled to take photographs of them sitting together and shaking hands.
Their appearance temporarily disrupted the event and overshadowed the premiere of Taiwanese, Forward (台灣人前進), a documentary about democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水) and his resistance movement in the 1920s against Japanese rule of Taiwan.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Following the screening, Hou, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nominee, said he was “touched” by Chiang’s efforts to pursue democracy in Taiwan.
“We are all born here in Taiwan and are nurtured by this land,” he said, adding that it was important for Taiwanese to set aside their differences and work together for a better future.
“It is my dream to unite Taiwan,” he said.
Ko — who has on more than one occasion expressed his admiration for Chiang and named his party after Chiang’s Taiwanese People’s Party, despite opposition from Chiang’s descendants — said he would “inherit” Chiang’s unfinished work.
“I was thinking about the goals Chiang Wei-shui was unable to achieve 100 years ago... We can now take on the challenge and strive to [fulfill them],” he said, without specifying what those goals were.
The 51-minute documentary chronicles the legacy of Chiang and the Taiwanese Cultural Association, an organization founded by Chiang and others calling for greater autonomy for Taiwanese living under Japanese rule.
Established in 1921, the association was dedicated to cultivating cultural and political thinking among Taiwanese through lectures, theater and movie screenings, at a time when only affluent families could afford higher education.
Chiang, who had trained as a doctor, devoted much of his life to politics and is widely remembered as one of the earliest democracy activists in Taiwan.
The premiere was held on the campus of the Blessed Imelda’s School in Taipei, where the cultural association was headquartered more than a century ago.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese