Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) comments about a project by the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation on a disputed plot of land in Neihu District (內湖) drew a heated response from Buddhist Master Shih Chao-hwei (釋昭慧) yesterday.
“I cannot help but severely criticize Ko,” Shih said in a Facebook post, protesting what she called Ko’s “humiliation” of the foundation.
“It is like biting the hand that feeds you,” Shih said. “The mayor of Taipei has treated with hostility a noble organization that helps him care for the city’s weak and disadvantaged.”
Photo: Kuo An-chia, Taipei Times
She said Ko had not done his homework and carefully reviewed the foundation’s plan before calling it a “development project,” as if it were an urban renewal plan backed by a business group.
The site is to be used to manufacture blankets for use in disaster relief and would serve as a logistics center in the event of an emergency, she said.
In a recent interview with CK Potpourri, the Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School magazine, Ko said it was “strange” that the foundation had bought the land in an environmentally protected zone in Neihu for development.
The project has been mired in controversy for more than 10 years because of opposition from residents and environmental groups.
Tree Party policy director Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said that environmental groups oppose the project because it would set a poor precedent, opening the door for large corporations or those with influence to expedite approval for use of land in environmentally protected zones.
He said the Tzu Chi Foundation had sought to have the project approved as an individual case, without considering the wider impact it would have and that it has refused to have the project undergo an environmental impact assessment.
In December last year, Ko said he was opposed to the project as a matter of principle, stating that there was no need for Taipei to take from the wilderness to make room for further population growth.
In response to Shih’s remarks, Taipei City Government spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said Ko was only discussing the facts of a case that has attracted substantial public interest, and was not taking aim at any particular organization.
The city was extremely grateful for the foundation’s assistance in dealing with the aftermath of last month’s plane crash, Lin said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS