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
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
RSS