There will be no permanent sitting ban in the main hall of the Taipei Railway Station, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said yesterday, adding that it has placed smiley face decals on the floor to welcome all visitors.
The agency in May said that it would make the temporary ban on sitting on the hall’s floor — imposed as part of disease-prevention measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic — permanent to ensure foot traffic inside the station would not be disrupted.
The announcement infuriated many people, including migrant workers and their supporters, triggering sit-in protests in the hall.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Opponents of the ban said the main hall is a public space that should be accessible to everyone, and the move would further restrict the number of places in Taipei for migrant workers to meet on their days off.
The TRA held two seminars, on May 26 and June 3, to hear from civic groups, non-governmental organizations and experts on how the main hall should be used.
Civic groups held their own meetings on June 11 and Tuesday, reaching a consensus that the main hall should remain open to the public and be used to facilitate civic participation, the TRA said.
“To create a more user-friendly environment, our first step was to put 10 different smiley face decals on the floor to show that the main hall can be used for various purposes and all people are welcome to access the facility,” the agency said.
The word “smile” was translated into 10 languages — Mandarin, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Filipino, Thai and Malaysian — with the decals placed in squares next to the smiley faces to highlight the floor’s checkerboard pattern.
All the decals had been placed by yesterday morning, it said.
“The checkerboard pattern in the main hall has been around for many years, but the use of the public space should be more diverse. Our hope is that people, be they standing or sitting, can come to the main hall and find a place they belong,” it added.
“We will later release proposals on how the main hall should be used to meet diverse demands from the public, including installing seating and allowing non-governmental groups to access the area,” it said.
“These moves demonstrate our commitment to fulfilling our social responsibility and to making the Taipei Railway Station’s main hall a landmark for cultural diversity that is friendly to all,” it said.
Given that COVID-19 has been contained domestically, event organizers are welcome to rent TRA station facilities, provided that participants follow social-distancing guidelines, wear masks and wash their hands frequently, it added.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS