Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Ill-gotten assets are holding KMT together

James Wang 王景弘

The local election campaigns are reaching fever pitch. Although the results next month would not affect the governing party, they should be an important bellwether for the political landscape.

They can also provide insight into whether the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has laid to rest the long-running controversy of ill-gotten assets, and show if parties have adopted a democratic spirit and are playing fair.

Plagiarism scandal claims more

Taipei Times Editorials

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), in his capacity as Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, was last week forced to intervene in an ongoing plagiarism scandal that threatened to engulf TPP Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如). Tsai’s master’s degree from Takming University of Science and Technology was on Thursday last week revoked after a review by its research ethics committee. Without admitting guilt, Tsai resigned on Friday, following guidance from Ko.

US mulls plan to produce arms with Taiwan: report

Taipei Times

The US government is considering a plan to jointly produce weapons with Taiwan, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday, citing three sources.

Washington wants to step up production capacity for US-designed arms and speed up their transfer as part of a move to bolster deterrence against China, Nikkei reported.

The report added that a person with direct knowledge of the US government’s deliberations said discussions had begun, while a different source said it was likely to take some time.

Ko’s floodwater gate debacle

Taipei Times Editorials

Heavy rain brought by Typhoon Nesat over the weekend left a trail of destroyed property in northern Taiwan. Losses from natural disasters are expected, but the circumstances that led to vehicles being swamped after floodgates near Bailing Bridge (百齡橋) in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) were closed have prompted criticism.

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) called for improvements to integrated warning and public messaging systems, but added: “Each citizen should take responsibility for their own behavior” when asked why vehicles had not been moved after warning messages were sent.

More Articles...