The Tourism Bureau yesterday said that an administrative order demanding local governments remove posters and billboards put up by the Falun Gong movement at tourist attractions was a “rookie mistake” made by a new official and the bureau would revise the order within a week.
Blasted by lawmakers and representatives of Falun Gong in a news conference, Tourism Bureau Deputy Director-General Chang Hsi-tsung (張錫聰) said that the document, issued on Sept. 26, which asked all Falun Gong posters to be removed, was a mistake.
Chang promised to issue a new order next week.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
The document, written by a staffer whom Chang said has been with the bureau for less than two months, singled out Falun Gong’s billboards and posters installed at various sightseeing spots and said they “might negatively affect foreign tourists’ perception of the country.”
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) said that, with the order, the bureau has become Beijing’s “hired thug” in its oppression of religious freedom and freedom of expression.
“It was the most serious humiliation for Falun Gong and its practitioners. If this is not fascism, then what is?” said National Taiwan University professor Flora Chang (張錦華), a representative of Falun Gong.
The professor urged the bureau to immediately repeal the order and apologize to Falun Gong and its practitioners.
She called on Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and the Ministry of Communications and Transportation to reaffirm their determination to safeguard Taiwan’s democratic values.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
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