President Chain Store Corp’s 7-Eleven convenience store chain opened its first store on Orchid Island (蘭嶼, also known as Lanyu) yesterday, after overcoming criticism from civic groups that the outlet would hurt the island’s indigenous culture.
The store opened its doors to business at 7am, with workers greeting customers using the Aboriginal Tao language spoken on the island, which lies about 80km off Taiwan proper’s southeastern coast.
Tao boys wearing traditional thongs danced during the opening ceremony. Open-chan, the dog-like mascot of 7-Eleven in Taiwan, was erected in front of the store — also dressed in a traditional Tao thong.
Photo: CNA
Addressing the opening ceremony, Lanyu Township (蘭嶼) Mayor Chiang To-li (江多利) said he was very thankful for the arrival of 7-Eleven, which he said would provide residents with many convenient services, such as fee and tax collection. Chiang also expressed the hope that the store would introduce an ATM soon, because there is only one such machine on the island.
The opening of the store was delayed earlier this year after it came under fire from civic groups and some locals, who said that it would bring about harmful changes to the local culture and way of life by promoting a materialistic mentality.
They urged President Chain Store Corp to reconsider its decision, but the company proceeded with its plan.
To celebrate the opening, a health station was set up inside the store to provide free blood pressure checks and liver disease screening for residents.
The online book retailer books.com.tw also donated 500 new books to teenagers on Orchid Island.
According to President Chain Store Corp, the Orchid Island store is the 52nd opened by the chain on outlying islands.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by