Aboriginal landowners in the area around Taroko Gorge in eastern Taiwan have decided to return on Monday to sow and plow tracts of farmland that they say Asia Cement stole from them some 27 years ago.
About 300 Aboriginal landowners have asked Asia Cement to remove fences, buildings and machines before a Monday deadline from the lands that they claim their ancestors handed down to them, said Tien Chun-chou (
Committee members, including Aboriginal legislators Payen Talu (
According to Tien, the Taiwan Provincial Aboriginal Affairs Committee filed a lawsuit with the Hualien District Court in January 1999 against Asia Cement for illegally occupying the land. The Hualien District Court ruled in favor of the Aborigines on Aug. 10 last year, saying Asia Cement must return the land.
Tien said that company has still not complied with the ruling and has continued operating on the land, adding that no government agency has stepped in to enforce the court ruling.
The landowners notified Asia Cement of their decision to reclaim the land in a joint letter written March 6, in the hopes that the company will do what it should before Monday's deadline.
The decision by the landowners, made up of members of the Taroko, Atayal and Amis tribes, to reclaim the land will mark the largest Aboriginal land reclamation in Taiwan in recent decades, if carried out.
Legislators Payen Talu and Walis Pelin said they are throwing their full support behind the landowners and will help them to claim compensation from Asia Cement for occupation of the land over the past 27 years.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS