Disney has halted its much-delayed expansion plans at the firm’s Hong Kong theme park after failing to agree to a deal with the city’s government, a spokesman said yesterday.
The US-based entertainment giant said the decision was made after lengthy negotiations had failed to agree on how to improve the attractions at the troubled Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL).
“After two years of Disney investment in creative and design work and extensive negotiations with our partner, the Hong Kong government, we have not yet reached a final agreement to expand HKDL,” Leslie Goodman, Disney’s executive vice president of worldwide public affairs said in a statement. “The uncertainty of the outcome requires us to immediately suspend all creative and design work on the project.”
PHOTO: AFP
Goodman said the decision will mean around 30 Hong Kong-based “Imagineers,” who plan, design and engineer the company’s theme parks, will lose their jobs.
However, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said they were baffled by the decision.
“We consider that Disney’s laying off of Imagineers, who have been working on the design of HKDL’s expansion, will not be conducive to the discussions, and are puzzled by the company’s decision,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. “Disney has earlier informed the government of its lay-off plan and we have expressed grave concern about the decision and urged the company to re-consider.”
The spokeswoman said the government, which owns 57 percent of the park, was still in discussions over the expansion plans and hoped to reach an agreement “as soon as possible.”
Goodman insisted Disney remained committed to the long-term success of Hong Kong Disneyland.
Disney has been desperate to increase the number and quality of the attractions at the US$3 billion venue since it opened in 2005.
But the Hong Kong government has been reluctant to plow in any more cash after criticism that the initial deal was bad value for taxpayers and worries about visitor numbers, which have remained below expectations.
The parent company also announced in January that it was preparing to submit plans to the Chinese government to build a theme park in Shanghai, raising fears the firm’s focus was shifting away from Hong Kong.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary