A bronze statue of the goddess Matsu has sparked a political row in Penghu County, with Penghu Commissioner Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉) saying that county commissioner candidate Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復) might dismantle the structure if elected.
The 48m-tall statue in Penghu Matsu Culture Park is scheduled to be unveiled next month after years of delays.
However, Lai of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said he is worried that Chen, the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate in the Nov. 26 local elections, could tear down the statue.
Photo courtesy of the Penghu County Government
Chen’s campaign team said he would not make any changes to the statue and would discuss how to maintain operations of the park if elected.
Penghu County Government spokesman Chen Chi-yu (陳其育) said in a statement that the park was originally planned to be built on Dacang Island (大倉島).
However, the project was scrapped in 2015 by Chen Kuang-fu, who was commissioner at the time, supposedly because fundraising for the original project failed to reach its target and the county council did not approve the plan, Chen Chi-yu said.
Lai revived the project after taking office in 2018 by relocating the park to Magong City’s (馬公) Chongguang Borough (重光) and securing NT$250 million (US$7.98 million at the current exchange rate) from the council, Chen Chi-yu said.
The first stage of the project features the statue, which was completed and assembled last month, he said.
The statue, looking over the ocean, is the tallest bronze statue of Matsu in the world and could promote local tourism, the county government said.
Given that Chen Kuang-fu abandoned the project once in 2015, it is not certain whether he would keep his promise to not remove the statue if elected, Chen Chi-yu said.
Chen Kuang-fu’s campaign team said in a statement that he halted the project in 2015 due to insufficient funding and its possible environmental impact.
Chen Kuang-fu has promised not to remove the statue and asked his advisers to draft a plan to promote it as a tourist attraction, the statement said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
Firefighters are working to put out a fire on Taipei’s Yangmingshan (陽明山) reported earlier this morning. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The Taipei Fire Department said it received a report of a fire at Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) at 11:17am, dispatching four command vehicles, 16 firetrucks, one ambulance and 72 personnel. The fire is still burning on about 250m² of land, according to initial estimates, as eyewitnesses reported seeing smoke rising from the mountain. The Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters on Facebook said the Qixingshan (七星山) hiking trail starting from Xiaoyoukeng and the Xiaoyoukeng parking lot are closed as firefighters work to put
RSS