William Lai (賴清德) took the oath yesterday and was sworn in as the first mayor of the new special municipality of Greater Tainan, pledging to restore Tainan to its former glory in an effort to capitalize on its historic and cultural importance.
“We hereby welcome the new birth of this city,” he said in his inaugural speech, adding that the merger of Tainan City and Tainan County into Greater Tainan will allow the new municipality to use its unique features to transform itself into a special city.
Minister without Portfolio Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) presided over the swearing-in ceremony of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) rising star.
In his 13-minute speech, Lai expressed his gratitude to former Tainan mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) and former Tainan County commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) for their work during the past nine years.
However, neither Hsu nor Su made an appearance at the ceremony.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), former premier Yu Shyi-kun and former Presidential Office secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山) were also on hand to witness the event as special guests.
On his last day in office on Friday, Su hosted a farewell party at the County Hall and said “Tainan County” will always stay in the hearts of its residents.
Hsu, meanwhile, said he has set up an office called “Hsu Tain-tsair Office” and will continue to care for issues that pertain to people’s well-being and happiness.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
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