The central government has invested NT$7.42 billion (US$239 million) on development projects in Kaohsiung’s Asia New Bay (亞洲新灣區) area, officials said on Wednesday at the 11th annual conference on development in the area.
It has invested in 21 projects that span five industries, and plans an additional NT$711 million in investments next year, National Development Council Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) said.
The development projects in the area are important to transforming Kaohsiung and raising its stature, but they require cooperation between the city and central governments, Chen said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has invested a total of NT$1.24 billion in motion sensing technology, NT$160 million in smart city projects, NT$76 million in Internet of Things applications, NT$65 million in New Southbound Policy projects in Kaohsiung and has been seeking investors and people to move there, Export Processing Zone Administration Director-General Huang Wen-guu (黃文谷) said.
The Asia New Bay area was a pilot zone for motion sensing technology, for which the central government invested NT$1 billion over the course of four years through the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Project, he said.
Another NT$300 million is planned for motion sensing, along with NT$58.5 million for smart environment systems research and application, he added.
The government used the “front shop, back factory” model for the project, for which it finished moving equipment and personnel to Kaohsiung last year, he said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has used Kaohsiung as a base of operations for New Southbound Policy projects since the policy was implemented, Lai said.
She has also promoted the Kaohsiung International Airport improvement project, an increase of flights between Kaohsiung and New Southbound Policy nations and training programs for those interested in investing in those countries, he said.
The ministry budgeted NT$25 million for large-scale professional exhibitions, NT$6 million to assist with preparations for the International Congress and Convention Association meeting to be held in November and NT$3.9 million for cultivating international business talent, he added.
The government has earmarked NT$2.52 billion for the improvement of the airport’s domestic terminal and expects the new building to have a capacity to serve up to 16.5 million travelers per year, Democratic Progressive Party legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has also used travel discounts, increased flights and other methods to increase the number of visitors from New Southbound Policy nations to Kaohsiung by 33 percent over the past year, he 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