Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) yesterday rebutted media reports that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had selected him to run next year for Taipei County commissioner, adding that if he were to run for a post, it would be in Taichung City.
Hu made the comments during a visit to Taichung City Council Vice Speaker Chang Hung-nien (張宏年).
The rebuttal came after a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily that said Hu had been chosen to run for the post because Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei’s (周錫瑋) public support rate had slipped.
Chang told reporters he did not think Hu would accept such an arrangement, since he lives in Taichung and has not finished his work there.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Ho Min-cheng (何敏誠) said the assignment would be a step down and an insult, as Hu was to be a candidate for premier.
Ho said that if Hu served a post in the north, it should be a position that would benefit Taichung.
Hu came under fire when both pan-blue and pan-green councilors asked him about the report, in which he was quoted as saying that if he ran for head of a municipality, he would “rather run for Kaohsiung City because it would be more meaningful than Taipei County.”
Hu denied having made the comment, saying Taichung was his only choice and that running in Taipei County would hurt his reputation.
When approached for comment, Chou said that everyone had the right to run for the post, but that Taipei County residents had to receive fair treatment from the central government.
In response to media reports that Chou has repeatedly ranked lowest in support rate polls conducted by the KMT and that the party wants Hu to run for Taipei County commissioner, Chou said “some people in the party like to play these kinds of tricks. If they like that, then let them play away.”
Chou reiterated his promise to resign and not run for re-election should he fail to see the county elevated to the status of a special municipality or fail to get the funding needed for the county from the central government.
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