TOURISM
Bureau forecasts growth
Foreign tourist arrivals could increase from last year’s record 7.3 million to 7.7 million this year, with China and Southeast Asian countries the main sources of growth, the Tourism Bureau said. Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said the bureau would step up efforts to lure wealthy travelers from China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam because they are showing increasing buying power. Last year there were record high numbers of tourists from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore, which suggests an increasing potential in the regional market, the bureau said. The number of travelers from Hong Kong and Macau broke the 1 million mark last year to reach 1.01 million, up 24.3 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said. The tourism sector generated NT$340 billion (US$11 billion) in foreign exchange last year, bureau statistics show.
DIPLOMACY
Burghardt arrives for visit
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt arrived in Taipei last night for a five-day visit, the institute said. Burghardt was scheduled to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and several major figures in politics and business, it said in a statement. It is Burghardt’s 14th trip to Taiwan since he took up the top AIT post in February 2006, the statement said. Burghardt was the director of AIT’s Taipei office from 1999 to 2001. He is also the director of East-West Seminars at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.
TRAVEL
Ministry offers flood advice
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an advisory yesterday that the southeastern areas of the Australian state of Queensland are suffering from flooding and warned travelers to the area to pay attention to personal safety. The capital of Queensland, Brisbane, and areas of Ipswich, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast are all affected by the floods caused by torrential rain, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. It reminded Taiwanese students, young people on working holidays, expatriates living in Queensland, tourists and businesspeople planning to travel there that they should stay away from low-lying areas or places close to flooded rivers. The ministry also warned travelers of possible traffic stoppages in the Greek capital of Athens, which has been hit by a series of wildcat strikes by mass transportation system workers.
MUSIC
Producer excited over award
Award-winning US musician Daniel Ho yesterday said he was excited about a Taiwanese Aboriginal album he produced being nominated for a Grammy award for Best World Music Album, and he hoped to introduce the nation’s Aboriginal music to the world. Ho, a six-time Grammy Award winner, said he visited Taiwan three times over the past year to work with six Aboriginal artists on the album, titled On a Gentle Island Breeze (吹過島嶼的風). Ho said that while they do not speak the same language, music has no boundaries and he expressed hope of bringing more Aboriginal melodies from Taiwan to the world stage. Singers on the album include Hao-en (昊恩), a Puyuma, and Amis singer Illid Kaolo, recipient of Best Aboriginal Singer, Best New Artist and Best Aboriginal Album at the Golden Melody Awards last year. Ho’s album was produced by his production company and Taipei-based Wind Music International. The Grammy Awards ceremony will be held on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
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