Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors yesterday condemned the Taipei City Department of Civil Affairs for trashing the main lantern of this year’s Taipei Lantern Festival following the end of the event, and urged the department to draw up recycling plans for display lanterns.
The main lantern of this year’s Taipei Lantern Festival in January, a 16m ox wearing a taekwondo outfit named Mou Mou (哞哞), cost the city government more than NT$80 million (US$2.3 million) to build, and was in storage at the manufacturer’s warehouse in Changhua County after the department failed to find any companies willing to buy the lantern.
“It’s obvious that the city government has no intention of recycling the lanterns or trying to find alternative uses for them. It is unacceptable that such an expensive lantern is treated as trash,” DPP Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-feng (李慶鋒) said yesterday at the Taipei City Council.
DPP Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) said the department increased the budget for the main lantern this year and planned to break the lantern down to sell the different parts, such as steel wire, to hardware stores.
“Mou Mou was only on display for about 10 days and will be cut into pieces by the department soon. What a waste of NT$80 million,” she said.
The city government said the main lantern for the lantern festival last year cost NT$5.3 million. The lantern, a mouse made out of recycled materials, is now on display at a municipal elementary school as a public piece of art.
Most of other main lanterns created for past lantern festivals were either burned or sent back to the manufacturer, the department said.
Lee and Chien urged the department to draw up plans to either recycle or reuse the million-dollar main lanterns after each festival, and to make the lanterns with recycled materials.
Department Commissioner Huang Lu Ching-ru (黃呂錦茹) acknowledged the difficulty in finding enterprises to buy this year’s main lantern, and promised to implement new measures to prevent lanterns from being abandoned as trash.
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS