Uninvited visitors to the Taipei International Flora Exposition yesterday scolded the organizers for not allowing them in, forcing staff to once again break the rules on the second day of the trial run.
The event organizing committee had planned to open the Yuanshan Park area to only 5,000 invited guests every day during the first phase of the trial, but allowed all uninvited visitors to enter the site on Saturday to avoid confrontations. Dozens of uninvited residents from nearby districts and other cities blocked the front gate of the expo and bickered with staff over the guest rules after being barred from entering.
“I’ve been waiting here since 7am and now you are telling me I can’t go in?” asked Chen Yu-shin (陳郁欣), a Tainan resident who arrived in Taipei on Saturday and sought to enter the site with her family.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Yeh Chi-hui (葉圻輝), a resident of Datong (大同) District in Taipei, joined Chen in protesting against the expo trial’s rules.
“I came into the park on Saturday and there’s no reason I cannot go in today,” he said.
Expo staff at the entrance initially insisted that uninvited residents could not enter the site, but the director of the organizing committee, Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文), later agreed to allow all visitors to enter. More uninvited residents showed up in the afternoon, including many foreign workers who converged on the site after church. The total number of visitors was estimated at 20,000, beating the 12,960 who visited the site on Saturday.
Chen Hsiung-wen played down concerns over a breakdown in visitor regulations, though he called on the public not to come to the expo until the final phase of the trial run between Oct. 25 and Oct. 28. He nevertheless said expo officials would adopt a “flexible strategy” if some people showed up uninvited.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) yesterday accused the Taipei City Government of failing to stick to the trial run plans and confusing the public with vague rules.
“What else can we expect from the city government if it cannot even keep the number of visitors under control?” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Taipei Mayor Allen Chiu (邱文雄) said the organizing committee had collected 1,277 questionnaires from Saturday’s visitors, with 74.4 percent saying they were satisfied with the expo. Those who gave bad reviews complained about the lack of signage, trashcans, rest areas and restrooms in the park area.
Chiu said the organizing committee had already increased the number of trashcans and seats, and would soon put up more signs.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS