A pair of legislative committees passed draft regulations yesterday that would allow gambling on Taiwan's offshore islands such as Kinmen and Penghu.
In addition, changes to "The Offshore Islands Development Act" would allow all Taiwanese to travel to China through offshore islands.
Currently, under the "small three links," only residents of the Kinmen and Matsu island groups may travel to China.
Lawmakers say the revisions to the Act would help stimulate the economies of the nation's offshore islands.
The draft changes were passed by the Finance and the Home and Nations committees.
Chen Ching-pao (陳清寶) and Lin Pin-kuan (林炳坤), KMT legislators from Kinmen and Penghu, were among the lawmakers advocating the revisions yesterday.
In Chen's proposal, the decision whether to legalize gambling would be left up to a majority vote of an island's residents. A decision to abolish gambling could be achieved in the same manner.
The lawmaker's plan also envisions casino operators paying 10 percent of their gross to an island's local government and "offshore construction funds." In addition, at least 50 percent of a casino's employees would have to be local hires.
But not everyone was satisfied with yesterday's proposal.
Su Tzen-ping (蘇正平), director of the Government Information Office, said he regretted the legislative committees' move, as the Cabinet was planning a similar measure.
"Executive departments are evaluating and establishing a proposal for the legalization of gambling on offshore islands," Su said. "We hope that the Legislative Yuan can wait for the executive departments' proposal."
Proposals to introduce casinos to Taiwan's offshore islands have been controversial. At the end of last year, the Development and Evaluation Commission said it was evaluating the possibility of legalizing gambling on off-shore islands.
In March, Minister of the Interior Chang Po-ya (張博雅) said that she and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) agreed that casinos should be allowed on offshore islands.
Those remarks sparked heated debate among environmentalists, scholars and religious leaders about whether the government should roll the dice on legalized gambling.
But gambling isn't seen as the sole way to solve the economic problems of the nation's offshore islands.
Some hope tourists bound for China could give the islands a much-needed boost.
Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正) said yesterday that anyone from Taiwan should be allowed to travel to China through an island participating in the "small three links." Currently, just residents of the Kinmen and Matsu island groups may go.
Lin said making the change would help Taiwanese reduce transportation costs, in addition to stimulating the economies of off-shore islands.
Chen agreed that the revision would be beneficial. "The main purpose of implementing the small three links was so that goods and Taiwanese travelers would pass through the offshore islands instead of Hong Kong and Macau," Chen said. "But the Cabinet has been conservative" in allowing a greater flow of goods and tourists, Chen said.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious
RSS