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Where did the claim of NT$800 billion for southern flood control come from? Tu I-Ping traces its source

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Taiwan AI Labs founder Tu I-Ping said he traced a circulating claim that southern Taiwan had spent NT$800 billion on flood control.
  • He said the figure incorrectly counted the full NT$880 billion Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program as flood-control spending.
  • The claim emerged amid criticism that southern flood-control budgets exceed Taipei’s despite recent flooding after heavy rain.

Taiwan AI Labs founder Tu I-Ping says he has traced the source of a claim circulating in older social-media groups that southern Taiwan has spent NT$800 billion on flood control.

The claim has drawn attention after heavy rain caused flooding in southern Taiwan. Critics have argued that the region received more flood-control funding than Taipei, and questioned why flooding still occurred.

This is an improper use of the entire Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, NT$880 billion.

— Tu I-PingHe criticized the calculation behind the claim that southern Taiwan spent NT$800 billion on flood control.

Tu posted a screenshot showing a deputy director of the Kuomintang’s Taipei City chapter making the NT$800 billion claim on a China Broadcasting Corporation news program. He said the figure came from an improper calculation that included the entire NT$880 billion Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.

To illustrate his point, Tu compared the calculation to someone spending NT$8,800 while traveling around Taiwan, eating a NT$170 bowl of beef noodles in Kaohsiung, and then describing the meal as an NT$8,000 bowl of noodles from southern Taiwan. He said the claim resembled another rumor alleging that green-energy spending totaled NT$2 trillion.

It is like someone traveling around Taiwan and spending NT$8,800, then eating a NT$170 bowl of beef noodles in Kaohsiung and telling the media that southern Taiwan's beef noodles cost NT$8,000.

— Tu I-PingHe used the comparison to explain why he considered the figure misleading.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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