Several civic groups yesterday urged the government to halt sales of duty-free cigarettes at the nation’s airports to put an end to the rampant practice of people buying large quantities of tax-exempt tobacco products and selling them to youngsters for a profit.
“Since last year, we have been receiving anonymous complaints that a growing number of tobacco brokers, duty-free shop employees, airport workers, or tourist guides have taken advantage of the nature of their professions to buy large quantities of duty-free cigarettes abroad or at the nation’s airports and smuggle them into the country,” John Tung Foundation chief executive officer Yao Shi-yuan (姚思遠) said yesterday in a press release.
Yao said nearly 33 million packs of cigarettes are smuggled into the country each year this way, with an estimated market value of NT$3.6 billion (US$120 million).
“Allowing such products to enter the local market not only puts public health at risk, but it also costs the government about NT$1.3 billion in tax revenue each year,” Yao said.
Chen Shu-li (陳淑麗), a permanent voluntary worker at the foundation, said that the huge price difference — about NT$300 to NT$400 per carton — between duty-free tobacco and that sold locally is fueling the trade for smuggled goods.
“Due to their relatively low price, duty-free cigarettes are particularly appealing to teenagers who live on a limited allowance,” Chen said, urging the government to immediately stop selling duty-free cigarettes for the sake of the health of young people and national security.
Consumers’ Foundation honorary chairman Jason Lee (李鳳翱) said that although government regulations limit the number of duty-free cigarettes that Taiwanese tourists can bring in to one carton, violators only face a fine of NT$500 without any criminal penalties.
“Such a regulation exists in name only and explains why the airports have become a hotbed for smugglers of duty-free tobacco,” Lee said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching