Countering criticism leveled at several projects undertaken during his administration, former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and his team of using “defamatory” tactics to hide their “ignorance” of municipal issues.
“Personally I found [the tactics] unbearable,” Hau, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member, said on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony for KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) at party headquarters.
Less than one month since Ko, who ran as an independent, was sworn in on Dec. 25, he has repeatedly cast doubt on the competence of the former Hau administration after examining several projects, including the Shezidao (社子島) development project, the Taipei Dome, the Taipei New Horizon (臺北文創) building, the MeHAS City (美河市) residential project, the Taipei Twin Towers (雙子星) and the athletes’ village for the 2017 World University Games.
Hau said the Ko administration had only revealed “half of the information” about these projects and given them a political spin to mislead the public.
The Ko administration should make all information public, which the city government has maintained for public scrutiny, Hau said.
All major development projects carried out under his administration were in strict compliance with statutory procedures and subject to supervision by the city government’s ethics department, he added.
“Absolutely [we] can withstand scrutiny,” he said.
The elections are over and the Ko administration should demonstrate how it can effectively govern the city, not by trampling on the previous administration to hide its ignorance of municipal issues, Hau said.
Hau said that he respected the Ko administration’s efforts to govern the city and wished it all the best, but he could no longer stand the criticism.
Asked whether he thought the Ko administration was on a “political witch-hunt,” Hau said he would leave it to the public to judge.
In response to Hau’s criticism, Ko said: “If you had openly and transparently made all documentation public when you were in office, there would not be any of this controversy.”
Ko said the city government would continue “putting out fires” left by the previous administration.
He has previously promised to open all documents related to corruption cases to inspection by city councilors.
Additional reporting by Abraham Gerber
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation