The Kenting National Park Administration Office has come under fire for not taking tougher action against vehicle rental businesses and tourists driving in restricted areas or chasing after Formosan Sika deer.
A man, identified only as A-jui (阿瑞), said they had provided the office with two videos they had filmed last month near Kenting beach.
In the video, all-terrain vehicles (ATV) were making a mess of the beach, A-jui said, adding that they had told the office which businesses owned the rental ATVs.
The office had simply “told the business off” instead of taking more serious action, A-jui said.
In another case, an anonymous person provided footage of ATV rental owners taking tourists on a ride to chase after Formosan Sika deer in the Shueiwajue Community (水蛙崛) in the Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) area .
Footage of the incident has even been posted on the Internet, a source said.
The office should investigate such infractions, as there are clear regulations stating that people must get off their vehicles and view Sika deer from a distance, the person said.
The office must protect its image as a natural park for the conservation of wildlife, the person said.
Office Deputy Director Hsu Ya-ju (許亞儒) said it was the park’s custom to give a warning to first-time offenders.
ATVs are only allowed on the beach during rescue operations and ATV rentals are not allowed, Hsu said, adding that there are strict regulations prohibiting businesses from renting ATVs near the area.
The office has investigated the area after receiving the complaint and found that no person had rented such vehicles to tourists, it said.
It has not found any contraventions in subsequent inspections, it added.
The office will look into the Shueiwajue Community case to see if there have been any contraventions of tour guide rules.
Any contraventions would be fined in accordance with the National Park Act (國家公園法), it said.
The park also urged tourists to use legal travel and tourism services, and not to take part in any illegal activites or risk being fined.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS