Four of the five Taipei mayoral candidates yesterday attended a televised policy presentation held by the Central Election Commission and broadcast by Taiwan TV (TTV, 台視), with only Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) absent.
Ting did not take part so he could attend a large campaign event in the afternoon on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard, in front of the Presidential Office Building.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that after taking office, he encouraged municipal officials to be innovative and gave young people opportunities to be creative, because innovation is the only path for Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
New policies require experimentation, but officials cannot be creative if they are punished for failed trials, so the government should create an environment that tolerates failure and creates more opportunities, Ko said.
As an example of successful experiments, Ko said that drawing green pedestrian lanes on roads had helped the city reduce the number of traffic deaths to the lowest in 50 years.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao (姚文智) accused Ko of having the same political views as four years ago and said he failed to implement many of his campaign promises.
Ko always claims to be transparent and open, but could not explain what he did with up to NT$9 million (US$292,094) in donations to his 2014 election campaign after he claimed to have closed the donation account, Yao said.
He added that Ko’s claim to independence from the pan-blue and pan-green camps is false, as he has actually swayed between the two camps.
Ko did a worse job as Taipei mayor than former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and is “more KMT than the KMT,” Yao said, adding that people are disappointed with Ko’s performance.
Yao said he would change the Taipei Dome site into a large park and launch large-scale urban renewal projects to change the city’s skyline.
Independent candidate Lee Hsi-kun (李錫錕) said that although Ko has begun to change Taiwan’s political culture, he only performed the daily chores necessary to keep Taipei running and make incremental progress, but a mayor needs to come up with great ideas to help residents earn more money.
He proposed three plans to boost the city’s economy:
First, he would develop a night-time economy; second, he would turn the unfinished Taipei Dome into a large greenhouse, which could attract more foreign tourists, he said.
Third, Lee said he would remove Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), which is the size of about eight Daan Forest Parks, use one-eighth of the area to create another forest park and reserve the remaining land for social housing.
Closing the airport would also lift building height restrictions in the districts surrounding it, he said.
As he did during a Saturday debate on the Public Television Service (PTS), independent candidate Wu E-yang (吳萼洋) promoted the benefits of drinking “honey lemonade,” saying that he would provide it at Taipei City Hall for the public if he is elected.
As honey lemonade cures illness and improves health, Wu said it could reduce the need for long-term care and help address the National Health Insurance Administration’s financial issues.
He also proposed “pineapple cake diplomacy” — using pineapple cakes as gift to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — to solve the problem of pineapple overproduction and retain diplomatic allies.
“They would not break ties with us if they think the pineapple cakes are delicious,” Wu said.
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