■TOURISM
MOTC seeks gaming experts
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday it is seeking the expertise of both local and foreign professionals to draft gaming regulations. An amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例), passed last year, legalized the establishment of casinos in international hotels and resorts on outlying islands. It also authorized the administrative agency in charge to formulate guidelines before executing the amendment, including application procedures, issuance of operational licenses and special gaming tax schemes. The Tourism Bureau, which is under the ministry, is the agency that regulates hotels and resorts. The ministry said in a statement that the nation lacks experience in regulating the gaming industry. It will entrust a qualified consulting firm with the task of researching and studying gaming regulations in different countries. It must also make policy suggestions that are applicable to Taiwan, the MOTC said. The ministry promulgated the rules for bidding on the research projects on Monday last week. Many consulting firms have since expressed interests in bidding for the projects. Currently, no island has applied to establish casinos at international hotels or resorts.
■TOURISM
Taiwanese evacuated
Seven Taiwanese were among 1,400 tourists evacuated yesterday by helicopter from a rain-soaked mountain area in Peru, as the weather improved enough to allow local authorities to speed up rescue operations. Five of the Taiwanese were part of a tour group whose 15 other members had already been airlifted from the area, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. All 20 members of the group are now in Lima, the ministry said in a statement. The other two Taiwanese rescued yesterday were backpackers who had traveled from the US to visit Machu Picchu, the ministry said. Torrential rain that began last week forced the evacuation of hundreds of visitors from the popular tourist attraction. The visitors were stranded when train and bus routes were closed after flooding and a series of landslides.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry