Military officials in Kinmen County agreed yesterday to hand over two vacant military sites to civilian authorities that the county’s leader hopes to convert into popular tourist attractions.
Kinmen County Councilor Li Wo-shi (李沃士), accompanied by Kinmen military officials, visited three military sites in the northwestern part of the main island to see how the vacant military compounds could be used and made more visitor-friendly.
Li had high praise for a military site in Nanshan (南山) near the Beishan cliff, which he said featured spectacular sea views. However, because some soldiers were still stationed there, military officials did not agree to its release.
The two demilitarized sites that the military agreed to hand over were a 1,119m2 site in Wushantou (烏山頭) and a 3,600m2 site adjacent to the Guningtou Battle Museum.
Li said the Kinmen County Government would purchase four electric vehicles next year so that visitors could travel around the Guningtou Battlefield more easily.
Located much closer to China’s southeastern coast than to Taiwan proper, Kinmen served as the frontline in hostilities between Beijing and Taipei.
Taiwan has scaled back its forces on Kinmen in recent years, removing a valuable source of income for the island county.
The county has turned to tourism to try to fill the gap and has turned Cold War era relics and battlefields into some of the area’s prime attractions.
One of those is the Guningtou Battlefield, where China’s People’s Liberation Army launched a surprise attack on Oct. 25, 1949, only to be repelled by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) forces.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
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Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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