Professionals in the culture and tourism industries yesterday expressed strong reservations regarding the government's plans to merge the culture and tourism departments into one ministry.
Government plans to create a Ministry of Culture and Tourism are part of amendments made to the Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan (
Under this initiative, culture, tourism and media departments previously under the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC), the Government Information Office (GIO) and the Council for Cultural Affairs will be combined to create a Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The Research, Development and Evaluation Commission yesterday presented a draft proposal of what the structure of the new ministry could look like. In the proposal, there are eight departments with branches in the north, middle, south and east of Taiwan.
The system provides for, among others, departments of media and culture, international communications, community culture, art and tourism development.
A discussion was organized by the Association of Culture Environment Reform Taiwan yesterday to gauge the opinions of people working in relevant industries.
Professionals from both the cultural and tourism industries expressed concerns that their functions weren't being emphasized enough under the new proposal.
Chief secretary of the Tourism Bureau under the MOTC Chiu Chang-guang (邱長光) said: "Bearing in mind that the turnover for tourism is vast at 4 percent of GDP, totaling NT$400 billion per year, and that it plays a key role in the trend toward globalization, its functions should be emphasized."
Officials from the Nantou County Government's cultural bureau worried that financial resources for culture in the expenditure budget would be neglected as its results were less "concrete" than those of the tourism industry.
Director General of the International New Aspect Culture and Education Foundation Hsu Po-yun (
"Culture is the spirit of life and should be placed above all else. If trade production is taken as the goal, this may decrease the public's apreciation for culture," he said.
Officials from the GIO's Radio and Television Department said that a mere department devoted to promotion was insufficient, seeing as both the culture and tourism industry depended on media promotion to survive, and that as an industry it contributed NT$200 billion toward the country's GDP.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary of the Taiwan Visitors Association Tseng chien-hsun (
People First Party Legislator Lee Yong-ping (
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition