EasyCard Corp (悠遊卡) yesterday announced that it would sell 30,000 EasyCards featuring images of Japanese adult video actress Yui Hatano exclusively to people who pre-order the cards over the telephone, adding that it has scrapped all plans to market Hatano-themed cards.
In a statement, the company said that to accommodate diverse public opinion, as well as to achieve a balance between EasyCard Corp’s commercial activities and the role it plays in people’s everyday life, it would drop all plans to market the cards in stores and on the Internet.
However, the company plans to sell 15,000 sets — each set containing two cards — of completed cards via telephone pre-orders. Lines open at midnight.
Plans to market cards featuring Hatano have been axed and no more cards displaying Hatano’s portrait are to be made, the company said.
The company said it is deeply sorry for having sparked a major controversy.
It conducted an internal review of company statutes, and found that there are no policies to regulate card covers.
EasyCard Corp is to hold a thorough review and formulate rules to regulate future products, it said.
Liao Tai-hsiang (廖泰翔), special assistant to Easy Card chairman Tai Chi-chuan (戴季全), said that the company made the announcements after consulting Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
He said there is no age restriction on people who want to purchase the cards.
Ko yesterday said that he would not ask Tai to resign over the controversy.
The company’s announcement drew criticism from some city councilors.
Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) of the Democratic Progressive Party said that Ko still did not understand why the cards were unfit for sale and why they had sparked such great controversy.
She questioned EasyCard’s intention of launching a pre-order service, saying that instead of settling the issue, the move would stimulate more public interest in the disputed cards.
Chien also questioned whether Ko’s approving the sale was aimed purely at boosting the cards’ circulation.
She panned what she said were “flip-flops” in Ko’s remarks and in Tai’s decisionmaking.
Shortly before the firm issued a statement, Ko yesterday said that the cards would not be released “publicly.”
“This shows that Ko, who had always stressed the importance of an SOP [standard operating procedure], lacked any SOP on this matter,” she said.
Taipei City Councilor William Hsu (徐宏庭) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) called on Ko to explain whether accepting pre-orders via telephone counts as publicly releasing the cards.
He said that Ko, in his capacity as Taipei mayor, should have had the final say regarding the sale, but instead he allowed EasyCard to “overrule” his decision.
The incongruity between Ko’s and EasyCard’s statements was said to be a “slap in the face” to Ko.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a