Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said he never lied about informing the government before making a controversial speech at the annual Taipei-Shanghai City Forum last year.
In the speech in July last year, Ko said that the “two sides of the [Taiwan] Strait are one family” and are “a community with a shared destiny,” sparking controversy.
He later said that he had sent a draft of that speech to the National Security Council (NSC) before leaving for Shanghai, but did not receive a response.
The Presidential Office and the NSC have both denied receiving a draft of the speech beforehand, and Ko last month said that the two controversial phrases were added into the manuscript after he sent it to the council.
The International Federation of Journalists last week alleged that the city government silenced a reporter who discovered that the phrases were not included in the original script and intended to publish the information in June.
At the Taipei City Council yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wu Shih-cheng (吳世正) said Ko claimed to have sent a manuscript to the council without clarifying that the controversial phrases were not added.
“Being ‘deep green’ is my background, but the most beneficial thing for me as Taipei Mayor to do for Taiwan at present is to continue exchanges between the two cities,” Ko said. “So saying that the ‘two sides of the Strait are one family’ does not contradict my being ‘deep green.’”
“I only said I sent the manuscript to the NSC, but never that the phrases ‘the two sides of the Strait are one family’ and ‘a community with a shared destiny’ were included in it,” Ko said, adding that he had not silenced the reporter or ordered officials to do so.
Ko has been lying all along and should apologize to the NSC, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the reporter who was allegedly silenced, KMT Taipei City Councilor Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) said.
“Don’t arbitrarily accuse someone of lying,” Ko said in response. “You should apologize for the accusation.”
Taipei City Government spokesman Liu Yi-ting (劉奕霆) said it is his job to speak for the city government in response to news stories, but the city government would not interfere with the freedom of press, nor harass or intimidate media workers.
Liu offered to apologize if his communication with the media made reporters uncomfortable.
Asked by DPP Taipei City Councilor Ho Chih-wei (何志偉) whether he discussed the reporter’s news story with her superiors, Liu said that he did not contact her superiors on that particular story.
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
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS