Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs was urged yesterday to step up efforts to preserve historical buildings amid concerns about poor maintenance of old publicly owned buildings.
In a question-and-answer session with department officials, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wang Hsin-yi (王欣儀) said many of the old buildings listed by the city as historical buildings are in poor condition and have become hazards to public health and safety.
A Japanese-style dormitory on Hangzhou S Road, for example, has been in ruins with collapsed structures, and surrounded by mosquitoes, she said.
Others include a former residential area on Yangmingshan that housed US army personnel between the 1950s and 1970s, and several buildings along Dihua Street in the historical Dadaocheng area.
While those historical buildings were either public or privately owned, the department should take the responsibility for conducting inspections on their condition and instructing owners to improve their maintenance work, she said.
The Cultural Heritage Preservation Law (文化資產保存法) states that authorities should list budgets to preserve and maintain cultural assets.
Regulations on the preservation of city monuments and historical buildings in Taipei City also state that the city should encourage owners of historical buildings to manage or revitalize the buildings.
Wang said the cultural affairs department has only reported one case of a poorly maintained historical building — on Xinsheng S Road — to the Control Yuan for it to look into the administrative responsibility or failures of the authorities or private owners.
She urged the department to strengthen its efforts to protect the city heritage.
Department Commissioner Liu Wei-kung (劉維公) said some historical buildings have been poorly maintained, but the city will start next month to revitalize such old buildings.
The department will work with civil groups and cultural experts to assess the conditions of all of the city’s 80 or more historical buildings, and help preserve them, he said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all