Tsai Ing-wen Again

Politics Taiwan Politics
21

Thanks for the link. I guess I remembered wrong.

I think it’s more telling of the KMT’s standing in people’s minds. Nobody really likes them until election day.

Hau also has an important dad, but I think the major difference between Hau and Lien is that Lien has bee on the KMT’s central standing committee for 9 years, since he was just 35. He’s basically already at the top of a party that’s controlled top-down. Even if he’s not a good candidate, I don’t think anyone will dare to challenge him.

Careful, there. You’re only one step short of saying that democracy will never work in China because of the culture.

22

Ko has quite the mouth, and he makes a lot of clever quips and points out a lot of real problems with other people/policies. But he seems completely unable to evaluate himself.

He skipped out – last minute – on the DPP candidate debate because he arrogantly felt that a debate with anyone other than Lien was a waste of his time. He’s given very little in terms of constructive ideas on how to make Taipei better, and spends most of his press time tearing down others.

But two things about him bother me the most: He has little to no administrative experience, and the way he handled the HIV transplantation issue a few years back.

As a reminder, Ko was in charge of the organ transplant unit when the organs of an HIV-positive man were put into five patients who did not have HIV due to negligence.

taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003536538
news.ltn.com.tw/news/focus/paper/520867

Ko has consistently tried to lessen his responsibility. He said, sarcastically: “所有人都無罪，只有我有罪，我已有去監獄跟阿扁住隔壁牢房的準備。” “Nobody else is to blame, it’s all my fault. I’m ready to go to jail and live out my days next to A-bian.”

An issue of this matter, where he was clearly in a position of authority, is no joking matter. Since then, he has claimed he was the victim of political persecution, a scapegoat for other people’s mistakes, etc., etc.

So in summary, his one administrative stint was basically proof that he’s a bad administrator who doesn’t take responsibility. And that qualifies him for mayor how?

What we’re seeing is the worst of both camps: two complete novices who bring no promise of change. If I were a Taipei voter, I’d sit this one out.

23

Thanks for this info. I can forgive a person for one major fuckup in life, so I might forgive his part in the transplant issue (though I’m sure the unfortunate organ recipients would be much less forgiving). I’m actually more upset by him not bothering to show up for the DPP candidate debate. If he wants to be taken seriously as a mayoral candidate, it would be nice of him to let us know what he actually stands for.

I did some searching and found that Ko attended at least one debate, but not sure about the other two:

chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/nati … Ko-not.htm

chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/nati … Ko-and.htm

I did some googling in Chinese, and came up an article which (if I understand it correctly - my written Chinese isn’t stellar) Ko was in a protest where he cut up his ROC ID card because he doesn’t believe in the ROC; was loudly demanding a new constitution for the ROC (which he says doesn’t exist); attended another protest against the use of the name “Chinese Taipei” at the WHO. So in other words, the DPP base should be pretty happy with him, even though none of the above has anything at all to do with governing Taipei.

A little more googling and I see that Ko is anti-nuclear (pro-coal?) and wants to shut down Taipei’s Songshan Airport. It’s unlikely the Taipei mayor gets a say in the 4th nuclear power plant, but the issue of Songshan Airport closure falls within the Taipei mayor’s remit. I’m not quite sure why the DPP is so determined to axe Songshan Airport, but I assume that Sean Lien wants to keep it, so at least there the two candidates have something to debate.

I’ll reserve judgment for now. When is the debate with Sean Lien?

24

[quote=“Hokwongwei”][
I think it’s more telling of the KMT’s standing in people’s minds. Nobody really likes them until election day.[/quote]

Do you mean this with respect to this election or in general? Polls have tended to overestimate the KMT’s support in past elections, while this year KMT candidates in pan-Blue areas are holding their own. The problem is definitely with Lien here.

[quote]
Hau also has an important dad, but I think the major difference between Hau and Lien is that Lien has bee on the KMT’s central standing committee for 9 years, since he was just 35. He’s basically already at the top of a party that’s controlled top-down. Even if he’s not a good candidate, I don’t think anyone will dare to challenge him.[/quote]

Of course he will be challenged. He was already challenged for the mayoral nomination, and other KMT politicians with presidential ambitions are not going to simply defer to him. Even if he does clinch the nomination, he’ll have to face voters, and as we’re seeing with the Taipei race, while he may be able to get what he wants within the KMT because of who his daddy is, that won’t work with the electorate.

25

That was Su Tseng-chang’s thing in 2010, and Yao Wen-chih said he would close it, too, if he got elected.

At first, it seems really baffling. Taipei already has several large parks, especially when you consider the riverside parks, but more than anything else, airports encourage tourism and bring revenues (I assume, I haven’t checked the figures). Investing the huge amounts of money it would take to rip up an airport and build a park – none of which will be earned back – just doesn’t make sense.

Then it hit me: there are height restrictions on buildings within a certain radius of the airport, which otherwise occupies a very tempting square of central Taipei. I suspect this is an overture to construction interests.

26

That was Su Tseng-chang’s thing in 2010, and Yao Wen-chih said he would close it, too, if he got elected.

At first, it seems really baffling. Taipei already has several large parks, especially when you consider the riverside parks, but more than anything else, airports encourage tourism and bring revenues (I assume, I haven’t checked the figures). Investing the huge amounts of money it would take to rip up an airport and build a park – none of which will be earned back – just doesn’t make sense.

Then it hit me: there are height restrictions on buildings within a certain radius of the airport, which otherwise occupies a very tempting square of central Taipei. I suspect this is an overture to construction interests.[/quote]

Interesting theory (about the construction interests). I have my own theory. The majority of the international flights from Songshan Airport are to China (there are also flights to Korea and Japan). So perhaps the DPP sees this as a way to dis China. “Take that, China” I can hear them saying as they cut off their nose to spite their face.

I found the international flight schedule for Songshan Airport. I hadn’t realized just how many international flights there are:

tsa.gov.tw/tsa/en/flights_sc … rFlyLine=1

And the domestic timetable:

tsa.gov.tw/tsa/en/flights_sc … rFlyLine=2

I live in Taitung, and I know that a lot of tourists come to Taitung from Taipei by air. Ditto for other places like Magong (Penghu Islands) and Kinmen. Yeah, I know, they could move those domestic flights to inconveniently-located Taoyuan Airport. I tend to think that a lot of people won’t bother to make the trip if it’s too inconvenient. Closing Songshan Airport could have quite an effect on Taipei and domestic destination cities - I’m not sure that anyone has assessed the economic impact.

Well, the fairest thing to do would be for Taipei City to have a referendum on closing the airport. I haven’t heard any candidate suggest doing that yet, though perhaps it was said and I missed it.

27

A referendum on transportation issues is an invitation for people to make uninformed and impulsive decisions with long-reaching impacts. We Californians approved a completely unnecessary and nightmarishly complicated high-speed railway (which is now way over-budget) just because it seemed like a neat idea at the time.

This decision should be left up to the experts; incidentally…

focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201406160007.aspx

28

[quote=“Dog’s_Breakfast”]I tend to think that a lot of people won’t bother to make the trip if it’s too inconvenient. Closing Songshan Airport could have quite an effect on Taipei and domestic destination cities - I’m not sure that anyone has assessed the economic impact.
[/quote]

hmm, in another couple of year there’s be a MRT line directly to Taoyuan airport for 35 minutes. Currently it’s only a 40 minutes car ride from Taipei. If speed is what they really want, they can also take the high speed rail to Taoyuan THSR station and then jump on the MRT line, that would probly take them around 30 minutes. For someone living in Banqiao, it’s faster for them to get to Taoyuan airport than Songshan.

For those who wants to go to Taidong/Lanyu/Kinmen/Penghu or whatever place, getting to Taoyuan is the easy part of their trip. is a piece of cake compares to the alternative. Songshan.

Granted that’s not the shortest distance from a major city to its major international airport, but it isn’t that far either.

29

[quote=“Hokwongwei”]
This decision should be left up to the experts; incidentally…

focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201406160007.aspx[/quote]

You may well be right. But I doubt that Su Tseng-chang, Yao Wen-chih and Ko Wen-je are experts, or would necessarily leave it up to the experts. I have a nagging feeling it’s all about China, and also because the KMT seems to be for keeping Songshan, which obligates the DPP to be against it. That’s pretty much the way every issue gets decided around here.

Let’s just hope the MRT will still be running in another couple of years. I speculate that running it on windmills and solar panels will not go as well as anticipated.

30

The DPP has been going on about scrapping Songshan since even before there were direct flights to Shanghai from the airport. I really don’t get why unless they’re in bed with construction firms. The excuse of “there’s too much noise in a residential area” doesn’t stand up to scrutiny; if homeowners cared about that, they wouldn’t have bought near an airport in the first place.

Meanwhile, northerners heading to Taidong may not find it terribly inconvenient to go head to Taoyuan, but people who live in Taidong and are coming up to Taipei for business or whatnot will be extremely inconvenienced to have to go through Taoyuan on the way there.

31

There’s just no need for an airport to be at the dead center of a major metropolis. Songshan airport is just 5KM away from Taipei train station, if that counts as downtown. But frankly even more people live along Nanjing east road, say around Sun Yet-Sen memorial hall, which is only about 2 to 3 KM from the airport.

Most airports are at least a good 20 KM away from downtown, with good reason.

By the way, Narita and Kuala Lumpur airport are truely unreasonably far from city center and still they are not the farthest at 60+KM from downtown.

32

That would be a hard case to defend. I can list at least half a dozen major US cities with airports right in the middle of them. I’m not sure how Europe handles airports. I know that Asian cities tend to put the airports far away – Seoul’s is a particular long haul. Hong Kong’s is also quite the ride.

I’ve always found it really inconvenient and an annoyance if you’re passing through with a limited amount of time. The fact that you can get basically anywhere in Taipei within 20 minutes of landing at Songshan is a big plus to me.

Besides, if people really think it’s an extraneous airport, they can show it with their wallets. If it is destined to fail, it shouldn’t be because of somebody’s whimsical thinking. And again, I don’t think my tax money should be spent on another park that will be basically impossible to maintain. Have you looked at the size of the lot?

By the way, I consider “downtown” to be everything in Wanhua, Datong, Da’an, Xinyi, Songshan, and Zhongshan, since the borders between these areas are very fluid. Shilin, Beitou, Nangang, Neihu, and Wenshan are the outskirts.

33

Last month I flew Songshan to Haneda and I’ve got to say that downtown airports rock. So much more convenient, and the fact that Songshan international terminal is a lot more modern than anything at Taoyuan is another plus.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

34

That would be a hard case to defend. I can list at least half a dozen major US cities with airports right in the middle of them.[/quote]

by major cities you don’t mean Californian cities like San Jose or Santa Ana right? Heck, I lived in El Paso for 3 years, the airport is smack downtown, and it was known as the 19th largest city in the US back then. Those cities have very little in common with Taipei where space is at an premium.

LAX is at least a good 27km from Downtown LA.

[quote=“Hokwongwei”]
Besides, if people really think it’s an extraneous airport, they can show it with their wallets. If it is destined to fail, it shouldn’t be because of somebody’s whimsical thinking.[/quote]

I don’t think that’s how one should plan public transportation, especially for an airport.

[quote=“Hokwongwei”]
And again, I don’t think my tax money should be spent on another park that will be basically impossible to maintain. Have you looked at the size of the lot?[/quote]

Just leave it be as a wetland park. That’s exactly what it was before someone put an airport there. Cut a few channels through the lot and relieve Taipei from the threat of flooding.

[quote=“Hokwongwei”]
By the way, I consider “downtown” to be everything in Wanhua, Datong, Da’an, Xinyi, Songshan, and Zhongshan, since the borders between these areas are very fluid. Shilin, Beitou, Nangang, Neihu, and Wenshan are the outskirts.[/quote]

Well, if you include Songshan, the Songshan airport is 0km away from downtown.

35

I was referring to cities like San Francisco (14 km out of city), LAX (in the city, but about 20 km from downtown, although nobody goes downtown), LaGuardia (less than 10 km from Manhattan), Ronald Reagan (5 km out of DC), Honolulu International (around 5 km)…

For comparison, Taoyuan International is at least 40 km outside of Taipei. More importantly, when you leave the airport there is nothing there but fields. All of the airports listed above are at least in urban areas; Taoyuan International is separated by a whole city and in the next county over.

36

It could be made into an awesome park and the centerpiece for a riverside revival in Taipei, and it would easily be funded by the associated high rise construction newly allowed.

The airport is very convenient for business people in particular , but a 35 min ride to Taoyuan would not be a killer for most. Lots of European cities have city airports but I would say few are so close to the city centre, noise restrictions in particular would make for difficult planning approval. But yes they do have city airports as a back up to thei primary international airports.

37

I love awesome parks as much as the next guy. But the decision to keep Songshan Airport running, and to invest a great deal into making it work as an international airport again after a long hiatus, is not just a Taipei issue–and it certainly not just a cross-strait issue either. It’s regional, and part of a coordinated plan, to connect the smaller older airports in Tokyo/Haneda, Seoul/Gimpo, Shanghai/Hongqiao, and Taipei. And while I can’t presume to know what all these visitors travelling between these sites are thinking, I do know that the number of regional travellers is way up. We’d be nuts to back out of this regional scheme now.

Guy

38

As someone who does a fair amount of business travel, having an airport in downtown Taipei is a heaven sent. As Hokwongwei mentioned, the airport being located >40 km outside of Taipei is usually not a big deal for Taipei citizens taking trips domestically or internationally, but it makes a huge difference for people located in south Taiwan or in international locations looking to make a day-trip for business. With an airport downtown, a businessman in Hong Kong can take a morning flight in an hour and a half, immediately be in downtown Taipei, take the MRT or a quick taxi ride to a meeting, and then be on a return flight by evening. Flying to Taoyuan adds at least another 45 minutes x 2 ways in addition to a more substantial cab fee.

39

Songshan/Hong Kong? I sometimes do day-trips to Hong Kong and always use Taoyuan because there are/were no direct flights to/from Hong Kong. Are there flights now and any idea what airlines? Thanks.

40

Songshan/Hong Kong? I sometimes do day-trips to Hong Kong and always use Taoyuan because there are/were no direct flights to/from Hong Kong. Are there flights now and any idea what airlines? Thanks.[/quote]

I was just throwing out an example. You’re right, though. There are no current flights between Songshan and Hong Kong…but the example is the same if you substitute Kaohsiung, Shanghai, Tokyo, or whatever for Hong Kong.