Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) on Saturday said he would run in the Taipei mayoral election next year and accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of overstepping his authority.
Yao said the mayor has failed to live up to the expectations of grassroots supporters during the three years he has been in office.
“The atmosphere at party headquarters is always changing, but the latest polls show that many DPP supporters feel that Mayor Ko is out of touch with the expectations that people had for his administration,” Yao said.
Ko has said he would break down the barrier between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, but ended up wandering between them, Yao said, adding that Ko’s political activities have gone beyond the concerns of a mayor.
“Taipei is not only the nation’s capital, but also the engine of its economy. Yet, in the past few years the city’s economy has shrunk and has been surpassed by New Taipei City,” Yao said, adding that the problem seems to have stemmed from a lack of cooperation between civic groups and local government departments on issues such as land rights.
The Taipei City Government’s performance calls for a new mayor, Yao said, citing the city’s failure to launch the Taipei Twin Towers project after it was marred by corruption allegations in 2014.
There is a lack of enthusiasm about the Summer Universiade that is to take place in Taipei next month, whereas Tokyo residents are already excited about the 2020 Olympics, Yao added.
Yao said he would continue promoting “green” energy, “smart” technology and other infrastructure projects after the Universiade, but added that he hopes the city would put all of its energy into the Games and return to other projects after the event is over.
Yao said the DPP would hold its national congress in September and is expected to discuss the candidates for next year’s elections as well as the party’s relationship with Ko.
The DPP would await the results of a public opinion poll before deciding whether to maintain ties with Ko, a source said.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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