Traditional Taiwanese snacks such as fried oysters or meat balls could be available at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport as early as the next Lunar New Year after Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIA) said on Sunday it would turn the basement of Terminal 2 into a venue serving Taiwanese dishes.
“We are planning to redesign it so that it resembles a street with shops selling traditional Taiwanese snacks on both sides, showcasing dishes made on site, such as fried oysters, meat balls, squid stew soup or fried rice noodles,” TIA vice president Wei Sheng-chih (魏勝之) said of the 200-ping (660m2) basement.
At present, many of the food stands at the airport’s terminals can only heat up food, as fire safety regulations bar stall operators from using live flame inside the terminal, which is not equipped with a fire sprinkler system.
Wei said the company had visited the Breeze Center at Taipei Railway Station as well as food courts at various department stores for ideas, adding that it was now drafting the bidding requirements for contractors.
The quality of food served at the airport has come under public scrutiny lately after Taiwanese gourmet Han Liang-lu (韓良露) referred to is as “expensive and unpalatable.”
In related news, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) on Friday amended air traffic control procedures in the wake of a series of incidents at the nation’s main international airport.
The new procedures dictate that aircraft crossing or taxiing on a runway will automatically fall under the supervision of control tower staff. Previously, control tower staff only assumed the task after being informed by ground control officers.
Ground control officials had mainly been in charge of guiding aircraft before they enter a runway and after an aircraft has left the runway, while control tower officials had been responsible for giving instructions during takeoff and landing.
Chien Yuan-lin (錢元琳), deputy director of CAA’s Air Navigation and Weather Service, said the new regulation was designed to reduce the potential for error during the handover.
Chien said air traffic personnel must emphasize action words when giving instructions, adding that if they need the pilots to abort takeoff, they must explain why.
The frequency of on-the-spot inspections would also be increased from once every three months to once every month and recorded air traffic conversations would be monitored on a regular basis.
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