A number of Taipei city councilors yesterday accused the Farglory Group (遠雄集團), which is the contractor charged with building the Taipei Dome, of defying the Taipei City Government’s order to halt construction over safety concerns, prompting Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to call Farglory an “unscrupulous company” and order an on-site inspection of any possible violations.
At a city council question-and-answer session, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wang Wei-chung (王威中) presented video footage he took of the construction site, which showed several workers apparently welding on the building’s roof and on beams of a nearby hotel, which Farglory has proposed should be connected to the Taipei Dome complex.
The number of metal sheets on the Taipei Dome’s exterior has also been increasing, Wang said, adding that he had received many reports from residents of Farglory continuing construction in a stealthy manner.
Wang asked Ko and Taipei Department of Urban Development Commissioner Lin Jou-min (林洲民) why construction had been resumed, despite a city government ordinance in May ordering the suspension of work at the site.
The company had only been allowed to complete work on the arena’s lightning protection system and its foundation, which had raised safety concerns over perceived damage it had caused to the Taipei MRT’s Bannan Line, Lin said, adding that the work under way in the footage resembled neither.
“This is what you call an ‘unscrupulous company.’ We will administer the strictest punishments allowable by law,” Ko said.
The mayor ordered the department to launch an inspection of the construction site yesterday afternoon.
When asked by Wang if Ko head campaign adviser Chang Ching-sen (張景森) had substituted deputy mayors Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) and Charles Lin (林欽榮) in the city government’s negotiations with Farglory, Ko said that Chang had, but added: “At the end of the day, all negotiations went back to Teng and [Charles] Lin.
In response to questions whether others might have improperly carried out negotiations on behalf of the city, Ko said there have been “scam gangs” claiming to be city representatives that have profited from negotiations with the developer.
“There are all kinds of scam gangs. They are everywhere these days,” Ko said. “Some people have told me that the city government negotiated with them [Farglory] and took their money. This must mean that they have been scammed.”
“Farglory has been scammed. This is what I heard,” Ko said.
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