TOURISM
Taiwan-Japan travel surges
Travel between Taiwan and Japan is expected to reach about 4 million tourists by the end of the year, based on the current momentum, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday. The number of Japanese visitors to Taiwan has continued to soar, despite the depreciation of the Japanese yen and that country’s sales-tax increase, which has affected its outbound travel, tourism official Cheng Yi-ping (鄭憶萍) said. According to the bureau’s statistics, 1.04 million Japanese visited Taiwan in the first eight months of the year, a 17.95 percent year-on-year increase. Meanwhile, about 2 million Taiwanese tourists traveled to Japan in the same period, about 25 percent more than in the same period last year, Cheng said. Tourism authorities on both sides are optimistic about an annual goal of 4 million mutual visits this year and 5 million in the near future, she said.
TRANSPORTATION
Kinmen links assessed
A proposal by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to establish marine links that pass waters near Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen County will depend on a national security assessment, Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) said yesterday. The proposed opening of the Liuwudian Channel to connect the deep-water Liuwudian Harbor in China’s southeastern Xiamen City and Taiwan will need to be appraised by national defense officials, Yeh said in response to lawmakers’ questions in the Legislature. Opposition Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said the ministry’s plan to open the narrow channel to Chinese shippers could threaten Taiwan’s national security. However, Yeh Kuang-shih said the shipping route would not be opened at the expense of national safety.
POLITICS
Election neutrality urged
Examination Yuan President Wu Jin-lin (伍錦霖) yesterday called for neutrality before the Nov. 29 elections for mayors and local representatives, which have been called Taiwan’s mid-term elections because they are expected to set the stage for the 2016 presidential and legislative elections. Examination Yuan Secretary-General Lee Jih-shyuan (李繼玄) said between 700,000 and 800,000 civil servants across the country have taken courses on administrative neutrality and are familiar with the principle of keeping administrative duties independent from political leanings. The Ministry of Civil Service under the Examination Yuan issued a notice to government agencies on Sept. 29 to abide by neutrality rules. Among these, it is “not appropriate” for civil servants to connect to social media such as Facebook or Plurk during office hours or using office equipment, the ministry said.
DIPLOMACY
Panama’s first lady visits
Panama’s first lady Lorena Isabel Castillo de Varela is seeking to learn more about Taiwan’s social welfare programs during her six-day visit for National Day celebrations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. In line with her interests, Castillo de Varela yesterday was accompanied by Taiwan’s first lady, Chow Mei-ching (周美青), on a visit to a care center for the elderly and is also to pay a visit to the Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation, both in Taipei, the ministry said. “Panama’s first lady is dedicated to caring for the impoverished, the elderly and children, and has set up an office to help those groups,” Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs spokesman Antonio Yeh (葉德貴) said. “She therefore wanted to see how welfare facilities here are run and to learn from the Taiwan experience.”
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it