In the eyes of foreign visitors and residents, Taiwan is a friendly and democratic country and visitors are most impressed with Taiwan's culture, people's friendliness and beautiful scenery, according to a survey released by the Government Information Office (GIO) yesterday.
The poll also found that visitors are least impressed with the nation's environmental protection, internationalization and tourism facilities.
The survey, conducted between Oct. 26 and Dec. 31 last year, questioned about 1,000 foreign visitors and over 500 foreign residents, found that the dominant impression of Taiwanese people was of their friendliness, followed by diligence, politeness, reliability, openness, flexibility and high quality of life.
Foreign tourists and residents agreed that Taiwanese society is family-centered. The tourists also stressed Taiwanese society's competitiveness, safety, fast-pace, ethics, modernization, internationalization, efficiency, freedom, order and diversity.
When asked about their impressions concerning Taiwan's government, more than 55 percent of the foreign residents said that they were most impressed with the freedom of the media and about 53 percent cited democratic development.
More than 80 percent of foreign visitors and 85 percent of foreign residents agreed that Taiwan is better than China in terms of its democratic development and economic, cultural, social and technological development, as well as in terms of internationalization and quality of life.
When asked about their tourism preferences, the survey indicated that foreigners were most interested in Taiwan's food.
For foreign visitors, this was followed by the nation's cultural heritage, historic sites, shopping, night life, hot springs, offshore islands, adventure activities, eco-tourism, exhibitions and city tours.
For foreign residents, this was followed in descending order by cultural heritage, night life, historic sites, shopping, hot springs, adventure activities, offshore islands, eco-tourism, exhibitions and city tours.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
RSS