New竹 Magistrate Accused of Faking 'City Diplomacy' in Portugal Trip

New竹 County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke's 14-day trip to Brazil and Portugal has drawn criticism from the chairman of the New Power Party, Wang Wan-yu. Wang alleges that Yang packaged a tourist excursion as "city diplomacy" and fabricated a non-existent "Lisbon South Bay City Hall."

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The magistrate's graduation trip packaged tourism as 'city diplomacy,' even 'fabricating a non-existent Lisbon South Bay City Hall.'

Yang's trip, initially lacking public details, prompted Wang to question the purpose and transparency of the visit. The New竹 County Government later released information about Yang's visit to the Unicorn Factory Lisboa on August 19th (local time), stating it was to understand Portugal's innovation and startup ecosystem for New竹 County's industrial transformation. They also mentioned plans to visit Barreiro city and meet its deputy mayor.

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Magistrate Yang led the county government team to Portugal for exchanges, including visiting the Unicorn Factory Lisboa to understand the development model of Portugal's startup industry and innovation clusters.

However, Wang countered that Lisbon city hall, local media, and foreign representative offices had not reported on the visit. She also claimed that the "One Core × Three Innovation Hubs" strategy, mentioned by the county government, did not appear in their past public documents. Wang criticized Yang for inventing a non-existent county policy to appear official, stating that "Lisbon South Bay" is a regional brand promoted by three municipalities, not a city hall.

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The magistrate, to put on a show, actually fabricated a non-existent county policy in Portugal?

The county government responded that the visit aimed to gather insights for New竹 County's development, including a strategy to extend innovation to eastern areas like Zhudong, Guanxi, and Hengshan. They plan to release details of the exchange with Barreiro's deputy mayor in due course.

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The so-called 'Lisbon South Bay' is just a region, a brand jointly promoted by three local governments... Magistrate Yang Wen-ke, telling one lie requires more lies to cover it up. Just go play, just go visit, don't fabricate it as 'city diplomacy'!