The Government Information Office (GIO) said yesterday that Jet Tone Films (台灣澤東公司) must return the NT$4 million (US$121,600) grant it received for the film Miao Miao (渺渺), which was pulled recently from a film festival in Melbourne, Australia. The GIO said it would also take back a NT$5 million grant to Jet Tone for a separate film.
Miao Miao, co-produced by Hong Kong-based JA Movies and Jet Tone Films, a subsidiary of Hong Kong Jet Tone Films Ltd (香港澤東公司), was among the movies withdrawn from the Melbourne International Film Festival.
BEIJING POUTS
Beijing launched a boycott of the film festival after the organizers brushed off Chinese pressure not to air the documentary 10 Conditions of Love about Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent human rights activist whom Beijing claims is a terrorist.
Miao Miao’s withdrawal from the festival sparked anger as it implied that the film was Chinese rather than Taiwanese and gave the impression that Taiwan supported Beijing’s repression of Uighur rights and freedom of speech both at home and abroad.
TWO ADDRESSES
Under pressure to revoke the subsidy, the GIO looked into its contract with Jet Tone and found a discrepancy between the address Jet Tone Films gave on its registration form for the festival and the address it gave to apply for funds from the GIO.
The address on the festival registration form was in Hong Kong, the GIO said.
Jet Tone Films will also lose a NT$5 million grant it received this year to produce another film because regulations stipulate that an applicant cannot receive grants from the GIO for three years after being disqualified for funding.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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