The suspension of Taipei City’s MRT Muzha Line this weekend — and the rest of the weekends this month — drew complaints yesterday from many people registered to take the annual Japanese Language Proficiency Test. They urged the city’s Rapid Transit System Department to provide service for the test day this Sunday.
The department had previously said weekend service on the line would be suspended starting this Saturday to allow for testing of the integration of the Muzha Line and the Neihu Line so the Neihu Line can open as scheduled in June.
Complaints about the suspension, mainly from participants in the test, which will be held at various schools including some along the Muzha Line, have flooded Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) mailbox.
“The suspension of the service will cause traffic jams around the test locations on Sunday and will cause more inconvenience for participants from outside of Taipei,” one resident wrote.
Although the department promised to provide shuttle bus service along Xinhai Road (辛亥) and Jungong Road (軍? and increase the number of buses during the weekends at four major MRT stations on the Muzha Line, test participants said the traffic around the exam sites would still be crowded.
The test, held in Japan and other countries, evaluates and certifies the language proficiency of primarily non-native speakers of Japanese.
Many Muzha residents have also complained about the closure and urged the test runs be held at night.
The department said it was discussing the possibility of opening the line on Sunday, but a final decision would not be made until later this week. It said the suspension of the service was necessary to integrate the system, and the public can use the bus service instead.
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
RSS