With their pets and families in tow, tens of thousands of people packed the Taipei MRT’s Taipei Zoo Station yesterday to join independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and his wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), for a walking event.
Under an almost cloudless blue sky, about 30,000 people flocked to the station near Taipei Zoo in the morning sunshine, not to see the facility’s popular pandas or new additions, but to walk along the nearby Jingmei River (景美溪) trail for the event organized by Ko’s campaign to rally support ahead of next week’s nine-in-one elections.
Although the Ko camp had estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 people would take part, nearly 30,000 turned up, far exceeding expectations.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Many participants brought their pets along, and though these were mostly dogs, one man did bring his pet snake, wearing it around his neck as he walked the trail.
Another group had their Welsh corgis with them and chanted “Corgis support Ko P,” using the Mandarin term for Welsh corgi, ke ji (柯基), which resembles Ko’s nickname “Ko P” (柯P).
The “P” stands for “professor.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
A pair of sisters surnamed Tang (唐) said they came from Greater Kaohsiung for the walk, adding that though they are unable to cast votes for Ko since they are not registered Taipei residents, they still wanted to show their support for the candidate.
“This is a very different kind of campaign event: We are not here for free food, or because we are being paid; we actually had to pay a fee to sign up,” the sisters said.
Prior to the start of the event at 9am, Ko gave a bouquet of 99 white roses to his wife, triggering cheers from supporters, since Ko and his wife reportedly argued last week over a post on her Facebook page.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Asked if she is happy now, Chen said: “I hope you guys will make me happier on Nov. 29 [election day].”
Ko’s campaign has also organized a carnival parade in Taipei for today, which is to assemble in Liberty Square at 1pm before departing at 2pm.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
RSS