Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) early yesterday morning set off on his third one-day cycling trip from Taipei to Kaohsiung, but had to cut the journey short after arriving in Changhua about three hours behind schedule.
Ko finished his first 520km “twin-tower” cycling trip from the nation’s northernmost Fuguijiao Lighthouse (富貴角燈塔) in Keelung to the southernmost Oluanpi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔) in Pingtung County on Feb. 28, 2016.
On his second run, on Feb. 28, 2019, Ko only rode from Taipei to Hsinchu, returned to Taipei for a ceremony, and later continued the trip from Tainan.
Photo courtesy of Taipei City Government
The Taipei Department of Sports said that the city government this year formed a “Team Taipei” relay to complete the challenging one-day, 365.5km Taipei-to-Kaohsiung cycling trip.
Ko led the first team, while Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) and Taipei Department of Sports Commissioner Li Tsai-li (李再立) led the second and third teams respectively.
The event was held to promote cycling as a recreational activity, as well as to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the 228 Incident, it said.
Ko’s team embarked on the first leg of the journey at 12:50am from Kuandu Temple (關渡宮) in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投).
They were set to arrive at Baotian Temple (寶天宮) in Changhua County’s Shengang Township (伸港) shortly before 8am, but he arrived much later at about 10:43am.
The planned destination for the first part of the journey was Kouhu Visitor Center (口湖遊客中心) in Yunlin County.
From there, Ko was to return to Taipei by high-speed rail to attend a ceremony to commemorate the 228 Incident in the afternoon, before returning to finish the final leg from Tainan to Kaohsiung in the evening.
However, Ko had to cut short the first part of the trip at Baotian Temple to return to Taipei.
At the temple, Ko said the trip was “really tiring” and he had not trained enough this time, adding that leaving at almost 1am felt like he had been performing a surgery throughout the night without any sleep.
After attending a Taipei City Government-organized ceremony at Taipei’s 228 Peace Park (二二八和平公園), Ko called the Incident a sweeping persecution by the government and state apparatus that caused more than 20,000 deaths.
He made the remark in response to media requests for comment on what was perceived as a controversial wording in a Facebook post on Saturday.
In the post, he wrote that the 228 Settlement Committee was a “base of operations for calling for insurrection.”
The wording was later changed to say the committee was “hoping to maintain social security through negotiations to deal with the aftermath” of the incident.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
‘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
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS