The Sixth Asia-Pacific Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Forum, a three-day conference focused on the development and application of transportation solutions, kicked off in Taipei yesterday with participants from 16 nations.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications' ITS Exhibitions 2003 was also presented in conjunction with the forum, offering approximately 80 stands, each displaying the latest in transportation technology.
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀連) spoke at the forum's launch event, saying that "the development of ITS has become recognized as a means of improving the future competitiveness of a nation."
She said that the development of ITS provided a means of maintaining societal and governmental operations and functions in crisis situations, pointing out that the US began to push for the development of a National Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure (NITI) after the escalation of terrorist threats in the 1990s.
She further explained that the NITI represented the physical, economic and institutional infrastructure necessary for assuring enhanced economic, societal and governmental operations. Lu added that ITS development could stimulate investment and demand in Taiwanese economy.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三), echoed Lu's sentiments, stating that the forum's goals were aligned with those of the nation's developmental strategy.
He further made efforts to boost Taiwan's tourism, telling foreign participants, "Autumn is the best season for touring Taiwan."
The forum will provide tours of Taipei City in addition to the technical tours of Chunghwa Telecom laboratories, the Taipei Traffic Control Center, the Taipei MRT Center and the Freeway Control Center.
The Intelligent Transportation Society of Taiwan organized and sponsored the event.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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