TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei mayor candidate and media personality Tung Wen-hsun (童文薰) criticized Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) for allowing President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to use her position to profit from land formerly used by the military.
Tung made the allegations at her first campaign office launch ceremony on Wednesday (Sept. 21). At the event, she also disapproved of the slow progress of developing social housing projects in the city, saying the housing projects should be conveniently located and better equipped to serve their residents.
Flower boutiques poured into the office to show support for Tung, including one pair of flower stands from the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator and independent Taoyuan mayoral candidate Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清).
Taipei Hai Bawang flagship store
Known as a New York attorney, Tung announced her Taipei mayoral bid on July 1 as an independent candidate, saying she has a mission to safeguard residential, land, and social justice.
She explained that she is motivated to change the political system for a better and fairer society after the sudden passing of her husband two years ago, an event she claims turned her into a person more empathetic to the plight of the underprivileged.
Tung promised to put an end to political favoritism by the ruling and opposition parties and claimed that, if elected, she would raze the landmark Hai Pa Wang Restaurant owned by Tsai's family company. Tung claimed Ko cleared the way for Tsai's family to legally transform land devoted to military purposes into a valuable business area. Media reported that some sixty years ago, Tsai's family procured that piece of land from the government.
President Tsai and the central body governing land policy previously denied the allegations that have been circulating for years. In an interview with LTN dated 2015, Tsai described the accusations as ridiculous and untrue.
"The injustice of changing the land use in favor of Tsai's family business should be overhauled and the land, as well as the profit pertaining to it, should all be returned to people," Tung proclaimed.
