Veterans Affairs Council Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬), who served as minister of national defense from 2016 to 2018, yesterday opposed a proposal to close Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) and replace it with a public park.
Discussion of shuttering the city’s airport re-emerged after Enoch Wu (吳怡農), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate for next month’s legislative by-election in Taipei, proposed the plan as a central campaign pledge earlier this month.
Similar proposals to transform Songshan airport have been mooted by DPP candidates in the capital for more than 20 years.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
The airport should not be relocated, as it has been designated as a wartime backup landing and takeoff site for the air force, Feng told reporters on the sidelines of a legislative session.
“Whenever our aircraft was facing a lack of fuel or poor weather, it would land at Songshan airport,” Feng said, describing the proposed relocation as “out of the question.”
Responding to Feng’s comments at a news conference yesterday, Wu said that he would propose establishing an ad hoc government unit to create a comprehensive plan to address national security, transportation and residential implications of relocating Songshan airport.
Wu, who is running to fill the legislative seat vacated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayor-elect Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), said that the closure would be an opportunity for urban renewal due to the removal of building height limits.
It would create room for a “green zone” similar to Daan Forest Park (大安森林公園), and could turn the area into the “lungs of the city,” Wu said.
Wu’s KMT opponent, Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), has questioned the feasibility of Wu’s plans, saying that the airport provides efficient connections for residents of Taiwan’s outlying islands.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) earlier this month said that unnamed sources had told him that the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) was against relocating the airport.
The AIT would rely on an airport in the heart of Taipei to extract US citizens in an emergency, Fai said.
However, an AIT spokesperson later said that relocating the airport was a decision for the government of Taiwan.
“Despite recent public comments to the contrary, AIT’s position is that decisions related to Songshan airport rest with the relevant officials here in Taiwan,” the institute said in an e-mail.
Songshan airport is a regional airport and military airbase located in the capital’s Songshan District (松山).
The civilian section of Songshan airport has scheduled flights to domestic destinations in Taiwan and international destinations including Seoul, Tokyo and cities in China.
The airport’s single runway is used by some units of the air force located at Songshan.
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