Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said that he felt like a student after he was asked to remain standing in a question-and-answer session at the Kaohsiung City Council while sparring with a city councilor who accused him of being unprepared.
When it was Democratic Progressive Party Kaohsiung City Councilor Kang Yu-cheng’s (康裕成) turn to ask Han questions, she asked the mayor to stand throughout their exchange, instead of sitting down after finishing a sentence, as he had been doing with other city councilors.
Han refused to stand, and after Kang asked a question, Kaohsiung City Council Deputy Speaker Lu Shu-mei (陸淑梅) said that he could stand up.
Photo: Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
Noting that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was scheduled to visit the city’s Ciaotou Science Park (橋頭科學園區) in the afternoon, Kang asked Han whether he would also visit the park.
The mayor said that he would send Kaohsiung City Government Secretary-General Yang Ming-jou (楊明州) instead.
Han sat down immediately after answering the question, raising the ire of Kang, who demanded that he remain standing.
After Kang asked Han what the relationship was between the park and the Ciaotou New Town development area, a city government official handed the mayor a note.
“Here comes your answer. Read it, quickly,” Kang said.
“What do you mean ‘your answer’? Why am I standing here like a student?” Han asked.
Kang then asked the mayor a series of questions about the park, including the main landowner’s surname, the park’s significance to the city, the central government’s progress in creating the park and what types of firms it hopes to attract.
In reply to each question, Han said: “Please ask the deputy director-general of the Kaohsiung Economic Development Bureau to answer first. I will answer later.”
“It breaks my heart that you, as mayor, do not know the answer to any of my questions,” Kang said.
The mayor again said that he would answer after the deputy director-general spoke — a response he repeated six times throughout the exchange.
Kang then asked Han to define a build-operate-transfer project and name some that were initiated after his inauguration on Dec. 25 last year.
Han asked Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Hung Tung-wei (洪東煒) to answer that question.
“I do not know how I can continue, as Mayor Han seems clueless about all of my questions,” Kang said.
She said that after more than 20 years as a city councilor, she did not expect to one day have to lecture the mayor, adding that Han should “do his homework.”
Separately yesterday, OMGooseTW, a Facebook page that creates satirical content about Taiwanese politics, said that the most relevant results of a Google search for caobao (“country bumpkin,” 草包) were all videos and news about Han.
Additional reporting by Huang Chia-lin
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