The Kaohsiung City Government yesterday said it would review a Kaohsiung Film Archive plan to screen a documentary about World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer at an upcoming film festival after representatives of the tourism industry said it could be keeping Chinese tourists away.
City Government Secretary-General Hau Chien-sheng (郝建生) told reporters the city’s Information Office would review the plan, adding that the city government had not been informed of the inclusion of the documentary before the festival organizers unveiled the list of films for the Oct. 16 to Oct. 29 event.
The city government was responding to calls from representatives of the tourism industry.
“[The visit by] the Dalai Lama dealt a blow to [tourism in the city],” Kaohsiung Tourism Association chairman Tseng Fu-hsing (曾福興) told reporters yesterday.
The Dalai Lama was invited by local government heads in the south, including Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), to comfort victims of Typhoon Morakot, which wreaked havoc in southern Taiwan last month.
“I hereby urge the city government to cancel the plan to screen the documentary, as it is too sensitive and could harm cross-strait relations,” Tseng said.
A Kaohsiung hotelier said travel agencies arranging trips for Chinese tour groups were avoiding Kaohsiung City and canceling restaurant stops booked for the groups.
Kaohsiung City Tourism Bureau Director-General Lin Kun-shan (林崑山) confirmed that hotels including the Han-Hsien International Hotel and the Lees Hotel had informed the city government of cancellations by Chinese tour groups.
Liu Shiu-ying (劉秀英), director of the archive and one of the festival organizers, said on Sept. 5 that the documentary, titled The 10 Conditions of Love, had been chosen because it fits one of the themes for this year: “people power.”
Beijing claims US-based Kadeer is a terrorist and has accused her of inciting unrest in the Xinjiang earlier this summer.
In protest at the festival’s refusal of a request from the Chinese Consulate in Australia not to air the documentary at the film festival, China withdrew its four films from the event late last month.
Huang Hao-chieh (黃皓傑), one of the organizers of the festival, said the festival’s official Web site had been hacked early this month and a message left on the site instructing the organizers to drop the documentary.
Huang said it would be an insult to Taiwan’s freedom of speech if the archive canceled the screening, adding that the organizers hoped to bring a variety of perspectives to the festival.
Also See: Seoul blocks Uighur activist from event coorganized by Taiwanese foundation
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS