Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday returned to Taiwan from a four-day visit to Singapore and said his visit helped improve Taipei’s administration.
Chiang made his first foreign visit as Taipei Mayor to Singapore on Wednesday, and returned to Taiwan yesterday morning.
At the airport upon arrival, he said the visit went very smoothly and the delegation learned a lot from it, including the design of the indoor vertical forest inside the terminal shopping mall in Jewel Changi Airport, and Singaporean Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment’s Singapore Green Plan 2030.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
They also visited the Singaporean Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Housing and Development Board (HDB), and learned about the country’s long-term plan and implementation of its Home Ownership Scheme, as well as visited the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to learn about Singapore’s plans for autonomous vehicles and traffic designs for reducing accidents by elderly drivers, he said.
Chiang said he was impressed by the Singaporean government’s strong planning ability, cross-ministerial cooperation and determined execution ability, and that there are many elements that Taipei can reference and use to improve its administration.
However, a city councilor questioned whether Chiang was engaged in secret diplomacy, and said he should explain to the public where he went and who he met with during the visit.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chen E-jun (陳怡君), who joined the delegation on the Singapore visit, said Chiang had “disappeared” three times during the four-day visit.
She asked why the mayor was not present during a planned dinner on the first day, a visit to a garden in the morning of the third day and arrived late to a lunch meeting on the third day, and asked whether he was engaged in secret diplomacy.
Chiang yesterday said he is very grateful for the Singaporean government’s careful arrangements and hospitality, and that “a guest should suit the convenience of the host” and the Singapore side was very welcoming, adding he was able to see many old friends and meet many new ones.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about