President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced that she had suspended preparations for her inauguration ceremony, saying that she would not hold a large assembly amid fears of COVID-19 contagion.
Any further plans regarding the inauguration would be made according to suggestions offered by the Central Epidemic Command Center, she said in a statement on Facebook.
Preventing the spread of the disease is the government’s top priority, Tsai said, adding that the inauguration — scheduled for May 20 — would only be held under certain conditions.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The government would temporarily halt preparations for the event, pending changes in the epidemic situation, she said.
Any event held would be smaller in scale than usual due to concerns over the spread of the disease, she added.
Tsai thanked the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, the Fo Guang Shan Monastery, Dharma Drum Mountain and other religious organizations for putting large-scale events on hold, or holding them online instead, to mitigate the risk of the disease spreading.
She also thanked members of the various religious groups for their understanding and cooperation at what she called a “crucial moment” in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
The public’s cooperation has reduced the pressure on frontline disease-prevention officials, she added.
Responding to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) remark that Tsai was planning to hold her inauguration at the Taipei Music Center, which is administered by the Taipei City Government, one of Tsai’s aides said on condition of anonymity that the center, which is not scheduled to officially open until June, was among the options.
However, depending on the epidemic situation, the Presidential Office had informed the city government that it could cancel its reservation in favor of another venue, they said.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS