Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Flowers are no match for a typhoon

Taipei Times Editorial

Taiwan is no stranger to extreme weather. The 2001 typhoon season, which lasted from about May to December, comes to mind. That was the year Typhoon Nari did a U-turn as it headed toward Okinawa, parked over open water to gain strength and finally inundated Taiwan as it slowly drifted southward. It was the seventh of nine typhoons to hit Taiwan that year, striking just two months after Typhoon Toraji caused flash floods in Hualien, Taitung and Nantou counties that killed more than 200 people and caused nearly NT$7.7 billion (US$240.2 million) in agricultural and infrastructure damage.

Key IT firm may be China-owned

Taipei Times

An information technology company that provides key systems software for much of the country’s financial institutions is alleged to have been bought by a major China-based investor, an opposition legislator said.

The purchase has raised questions among Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers on just how much of Taiwan’s sensitive financial data may have flown across the Taiwan Strait to Chinese companies.

An unfortunate tale of two mayors

Taipei Times Editorial

Something smells in Taipei — and it’s not the 25 million flowers and plants purchased to decorate the city for the upcoming flora expo. Rather, it is Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) scrambling to explain why the city paid 30 times market price for the greenery to a contractor with ties to his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration. In recent days, investigators have also uncovered what appears to be the overpricing of building materials. It is ironic that Hau initiated the multi-billion-dollar project to boost his re-election bid in November.

Hau admits crisis of overpriced flowers

Taipei Times

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) admitted yesterday that problems with procurement contracts handled by the city government have dampened his popularity and clouded his bid for a second term in the year-end election.

“It is without a doubt a crisis,” said Hau of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), adding that he has briefed President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — who doubles as the KMT chairman — and KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) on the ins and outs of the matter.

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