Seeking to attract the public to Taipei during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, the Taipei City Government has released a program of activities drawn up by its Committee of Tourism.
"This program is specially tailored to enable the public to see what Taipei City has to offer," Taipei City Government spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said.
In accordance with the lunar calendar, Chinese New Year this year falls on Feb. 12.
"In past years," said Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), "almost one-third of the city's population left the city and traveled home to central and southern Taiwan for the Chinese New Year holiday.
"So, we want the public to know that this is actually the best time to visit Taipei because you won't encounter the kinds of problems that occur frequently on most normal days, such as traffic jams and long queues."
"Instead of getting stuck in traffic jams on their way out of Taipei and traveling home," said Ma, "We would like to encourage Taipei citizens to invite their friends and relatives to come and spend their Chinese New Year holidays in Taipei."
Wu said that every afternoon from 1pm to 4pm during the three-day period (Feb. 12 to Feb 14), the city government will hold a variety of performances in front of City Hall.
"Entertainment such as folk dances, jazz music, puppet shows, cheerleading squares and an orchestra that will perform New Year pieces," Wu said.
"In addition, Mayor Ma's office will be open for public tours from 1pm to 4pm ... and Mayor Ma will deliver his New Year greeting to tourists in person."
Wu said the city government has also mapped out day-tours for sites such as the Taipei City Zoo, the National Palace Museum, the National Museum of History and the Core Pacific Mall.
For further details, contact the Committee of Tourism of the Taipei City Government at (02) 2720-8889 ext. 1505.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS