After the Taipei City Government “encouraged” staffers to promote the Taipei International Flora Expo, civil servants at 12 district offices and household registration offices yesterday started the day by joining the “flora expo dance,” confusing residents who visited their offices.
Civil servants have been practicing the 30-second dance, aimed at promoting the expo, in their offices during lunch hours or after work since last month, with the city’s Department of Civil Affairs asking all district offices to start dancing this month when offices opened and to invite the residents to join in the “fun.”
At the Xinyi District Office at about 8:30am yesterday, dozens of civil servants danced, while several people waiting for service watched.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“I don’t know whether it’s a flora expo dance, and I don’t care, as long as it doesn’t affect the office’s efficiency,” a man named Chen Yan-chun (陳言中) said.
One office staffer, who asked not to be named, said she felt embarrassed dancing in front of other people, but as a public servant, she and other workers “had no choice but to cooperate with the city government’s order.”
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said the city government “encouraged” all civil servants to learn the dance, but wouldn’t force anyone to practice it.
Shrugging off concerns about the impact on efficiency, department Commissioner Huang Lu Ching-ju (黃呂錦茹) said workers could use the 30-second dance to boost their energy for the day, while residents who visit the offices could also join in as a form of morning exercise.
Huang said the daily dance time would last until the end of the expo in April. The decision of those who do not want to join the dance would be respected, Huang said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
The China Coast Guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the US which Beijing has slammed as destabilizing. The Chinese coast guard
RSS