A member of the first Chinese tour group allowed to travel to Taipei via Kinmen disappeared from a Taipei hotel shortly after his arrival and remains at large, the Tourism Bureau said in a statement on Friday.
Lin Guobin (林國斌) arrived in Taipei on a flight from Kinmen on Sept. 30 — the inaugural day of the new cross-strait travel formula — after reaching the island on a ferry from Xiamen earlier that day along with a tour group.
As part of its efforts to attract more Chinese tourist arrivals, Taiwan began to allow Chinese holidaymakers to fly to Taiwan via Kinmen on Sept. 30.
Lin was nowhere to be found when the Chinese tour group leader conducted a roll call the following morning, the Tourism Bureau statement said.
He remained missing on the group’s scheduled departing date of Oct. 8, the statement said.
After an intensive search over the past 10 days failed to find the man, the National Immigration Agency put Lin on the “wanted” list on Friday, the statement said.
The statement said that the Tourism Bureau would deduct NT$200,000 from the travel agency’s NT$1 million deposit as a fine.
All local travel agencies intending to host Chinese tour groups are required to deposit NT$1 million as a guarantee.
Lin’s entry permit application form said he was a staff member at a ready-to-wear garment factory.
Travel sources said all members of the first tour group to travel to Taiwan via Kinmen had been carefully screened and selected.
It was difficult to understand why Lin, known as the boss of a garment factory in China, would abscond, sources said.
Oliver Yu (游芳來), Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications, said attention must be paid to the motivations of those who have absconded and the frequency of such cases.
Since Taiwan began allowing more Chinese tourists on July 4, three absconding cases have been reported, including Lin’s case.
The other cases involved Chinese citizens traveling to Taiwan via a third location. On July 9, three Chinese women left their hotel without informing their group leader.
Two of them turned themselves in at a local police station later the following day, but the third one, identified as Guan Xiaoyin (關曉銀), remains at large.
On July 14, a man disappeared from his hotel after arriving with a tour group from a third location, but he was located the following day.
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which stipulates that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican US Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude China from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China
Garbage and recycling schedules are to vary from Saturday through Sunday next week over the Lunar New Year holiday period. The following collection information is from the governments of the six special municipalities. Taipei Regular service: Sunday to Monday next week. No service: Tuesday to Thursday next week. Extra service: Friday next week. Regular service resumes: Saturday next week. New Taipei City Extra service: Sunday. Adjusted collection time: Monday next week — garbage collection is to begin in the morning and end at 6pm. No service: Tuesday to Thursday next week. Regular service resumes: Friday next week. Note: Garbage can be dropped off at 70
Taiwan’s Li Yu-hsiang performs in the men’s singles figure skating short program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. Li finished 24th with a score of 72.41 to advance to Saturday’s free skate portion of the event. He is the first Taiwanese to qualify for the free skate of men’s singles figure skating at the Olympics since David Liu in 1992.
A KFC branch in Kaohsiung may be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$200 million (US$1,907 and US$6.37 million), after a customer yesterday found an entire AAA battery inside an egg tart, the Kaohsiung Department of Health said today. The customer was about to microwave a box of egg tarts they had bought at the fast-food restaurant’s Nanzih (楠梓) branch when they checked the bottom and saw a dark shadow inside one of them, they said in a Threads post. The customer filmed themself taking the egg tart apart to reveal an entire AAA battery inside, which apparently showed signs of damage. Surveillance footage showed
RSS