On a one-day visit to Penghu, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday was greeted by protesters who called for fairer treatment from the central government for travel expenses and medical coverage.
Accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) county officials, about 100 local residents gathered outside the venue where Ma was having lunch with local dignitaries.
To shouts of “30 percent off [plane] tickets, improve medical care,” Penghu County Councilor Yang Yao (楊曜) of the DPP said Penghu residents could not keep quiet any longer.
PHOTO: LIU YU-CHING, TAIPEI TIMES
“We are taking to the streets because county commissioners, legislators and the president have turned a blind eye to our problems,” Yang said. “We are not asking much. We just want fair treatment.”
Shouting “Let’s use our ballots to support Penghu,” a female protester said Penghu had long been ignored by the central government, adding that Kinmen — another outlying island — has better benefits because it was where the Kinmen Brewery is located.
In response, Ma said his administration should be able to finalize a subsidy program for Taihwa Lun by April. Taihwa Lun is a shipping service partly subsidized by the government to carry passengers between Kaohsiung and Makung (馬公) in Penghu County.
On government subsidies for plane tickets, Ma said that at present the central government subsidizes 20 percent of travel costs, while the local governments, such as Penghu and Kinmen, cover an additional 10 percent.
However, local governments, which have been hit hard by the financial crisis, no longer had the finances to offer the 10 percent subsidy, Ma said.
Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Pin-kun (林炳坤) is also planning to amend the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), Ma said, which would increase government subsidies for Penghu and Kinmen residents flying from certain airports from 20 percent to 30 percent.
Matsu residents receive subsidies of 30 percent and Penghu residents flying from certain airports as well as residents of Orchid Island (蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) receive 40 percent subsidies for air travel.
“Everyone concerned is still working to at least increase the subsidy to 30 percent,” Ma said.
Ma also reiterated his government’s resolve to develop Penghu into a low-carbon dioxide emitting island.
He said the Council for Economic Planning and Development had given the green light to the installation of submarine cables between Penghu and Taiwan proper, which would allow residents of Penghu to sell the extra power generated from wind turbines to the Taiwan Power Co.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS