Incumbent Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
"The `Kaohsiung era' has come," Hsieh declared at his mayoral inauguration ceremony, held at Kaohsiung City Hall yesterday morning.
"Kaohsiung City will become an economic and trade city, as well as a garden city," Hsieh said in his inauguration speech. "This city is ready to get on the international stage," he said.
Hsieh said that being a hard-working mayor is the only way to express his gratitude to all of Kaohsiung citizens. In the future, the city will strive toward its goal of becoming a port city of free commerce and trade once the draft bill entitled "Kaohsiung as a municipal port city of commerce and trade" (高雄經貿自治港市條例草案) is officially passed by the Legislative Yuan.
The draft bill has already proceeded to the Legislative Yuan for review.
"Facing fierce international competition, Kaohsiung must think about how to maintain its position as the world's leading container port," Hsieh said. "It must also think about how to take the initiative in order to gain the upper hand once direct links across the Taiwan Strait are fully opened," he said.
Hsieh also named most of the heads of the city's bureaus and departments yesterday. Surprisingly, former National Police Administration director-general Yao Kao-chiao (
The KMT's Yao switched to Hsieh's camp right before the mayoral election and was later expelled by his party.
It's also a surprise that Hsieh appointed controversial Wu Meng-te (吳孟德) as head of the city's Bureau of Urban Development.
Wu is former director of the city's Bureau of Public Works. He was forced to resign in April after he angered resident mainlanders by saying that massive flooding last year was brought about due to the influx of mainlanders into the city.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS