With the Nov. 27 special municipality elections drawing closer, the procurement scandals related to the Taipei International Flora Expo have become the focal point for disagreements between the pan-blue and the pan-green camp.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday led an offensive against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), criticizing its continuous attacks over the flora expo.
“Both the governing and the opposition parties should support the flora expo just as they did for the Kaohsiung World Games last year,” Ma said. “The DPP’s constant attacks on the expo will only result in a lose-lose situation that not only ruins the expo but also shames the country.”
“The flora expo is not just Taipei City’s flora expo but also the whole of Taiwan’s flora expo. This exposition will stand as a testament to Taiwan’s important role in the world of horticulture,” he said, reiterating his confidence that Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) would hold a successful flora expo, scheduled to open on Nov. 6 and run through April 25 next year.
Responding to Ma’s remarks, DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said it is the opposition’s responsibility to supervise the government and that the DPP also hopes for a successful flora expo.
“Hau has only himself to blame for having screwed up the expo thus far” with a string of allegations that his team paid unreasonably high prices for flowers, vegetation and exhibition items slated for the expo.
Amid a string of procurement scandals related to the Taipei International Flora Exposition and the Xinsheng Overpass, Hau on Monday announced he had approved the resignation of his deputy mayor Lee Yong-ping (李永萍), adviser Chuang Wen-ssu (莊文思) and Chuang’s wife, Ren Shiao-chi (任孝琦), a secretary in Hau’s office.
The move came weeks after the city government was accused of buying flowers for the Taipei International Flora Expo and drainage piping for the Xinsheng Overpass at highly inflated prices. The city government’s slow response to the allegations only exacerbated the situation and hurt Hau’s image, costing him support in opinion polls less than three months before the election.
A poll conducted by the Chinese-language China Times suggested yesterday that Hau’s election opponent, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of the DPP, now enjoys a support rate of 41 percent, two percentage points ahead of Hau.
When asked to comment on the poll, Hau said he would continue to work hard to win public support. He added that he was confident Taipei residents would recognize his hard work and competence when the city government successfully hosts the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo.
Su, at a separate setting yesterday, said that it was still too early to call the election result as the difference in support between the two main candidates falls within the margin of error.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA AND STAFF WRITER
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to