The government will invest NT$8.4 billion (US$255.3 million) to build two large performance venues for pop music, following the successful model of Hong Kong Stadium which has reaped great economic benefit, according to the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD).
supporting growth
The investment aims to support the continued growth of Taiwan's pop music industry, which has already gained a strong foothold in Chinese-language music markets -- as well as to meet the rising demand for art, music and cultural events that have come with Taiwan's economic development and prosperity, a CEPD spokesman said.
As existing performance venues have been deemed insufficient to meet the current demand, the government has proposed turning Taiwan into an international art and pop music center with the construction of 10 major projects, including a Taipei new theater, a Wei-wu music center and a pop music industry center.
private investment
The Taipei new theater will be built in Banchiao City on a build-operate-transfer basis, and is expected to draw private investment of NT$10 billion.
The project will include a 2,000-seat theater, a 700-seat theater, a multifunctional performance area and an outdoor performance space.
The Wei-wu music center -- which would receive NT$8.4 billion in investment by the central government -- will be located in Kaohsiung's Weiwu camp (
The pop music center is still under planning by the Council for Cultural Affairs but a final report is scheduled to be sent to the CEPD by the end of this month, a CEPD spokesman said.
The whole project is expected to be approved next month, he added.
Besides building the performance venues, the government also plans to offer training opportunities and a variety of equipment to new talent endeavoring to build a career in the industry, he said.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS