The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged Hualien County residents to vote against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate in the by-election for Hualien mayor, saying it would serve as a vote of confidence in President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, which it said has devastated the nation’s tourism industry with a refusal to face the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) said Tsai’s reluctance to accept the “1992 consensus” has caused cross-strait relations to run aground.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted to making up in 2000, refers to a supposed understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
Chow said stalled cross-strait ties have taken a toll on the tourism industry, the effects of which are particularly felt by Hualien residents.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said bad policy is worse than corruption, citing what he said was former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) closed-door policy that led to a slowdown in tourism and many other industries.
“According to statistics compiled by the Hualien Home Stay Association, bed-and-breakfast establishments aimed at Chinese tourists have seen bookings decline by 50 percent, and occupancy rates drop to 30 percent,” Hung said, accusing Tsai of attaching no importance to people’s livelihoods.
Statistics from the Hualien Tourism Department showed that the number of tourists to the county between May and last month has been on the decline, Hung said.
Urging the tourism department to come up with responsive measures, Hung also called on Tsai to take concrete actions if she does not want to be judged by her short-term performance.
Saturday’s by-election is to vote for a successor to former Hualien mayor Tien Chih-hsuan (田智宣), who died of lung cancer in May aged 56.
Tien’s widow, Chang Mei-hui (張美慧), is running as the DPP’s candidate against the KMT’s Wei Chia-hsien (魏嘉賢). Three former KMT members are running as independents after being expelled by the KMT because they insisted on running in the by-election.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS