President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) presided over a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday for the inauguration of a luxury hotel at Sun Moon Lake (日月潭). The 10-hectare, NT$1.8 billion (US$51.42 million) Hanpilou Hotel was formally open to the public yesterday.
The site of the hotel, Hanpilou (
A 7.3-magnitude earthquake jolted central Taiwan on Sept. 21, 1999, causing serious casualties and property damage, including the Hanpilou.
PHOTO: TUNG CHEN-KUO, TAIPEI TIMES
Speaking at the ceremony, Chen said that he was very happy to see the completion of the five-star international hotel.
He quoted official statistics that showed that Sun Moon Lake was the most popular scenic spot during the Chinese New Year holiday. Nearly 500,000 visited the area over the week holiday.
Chen said that this was evidence of the economic recovery in the tourist sector in the area and highlighted that government's successful efforts to rebuild areas damaged by the quake.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
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