Journalists are always on the lookout for the unexpected. However, when visits by foreign officials change the behavior of people here and turn Taiwanese against Taiwanese, the situations that emerge can border on the bizarre.
One such incident occurred yesterday, when the management of a five-star hotel verbally clashed with guests as if they were sworn enemies. Even more disturbing was the sight of service professionals pulling, shoving and chasing people in the hotel lobby.
All this happened yesterday morning at the landmark Grand Hotel in Taipei, when members of the Taiwan Friends of Tibet (TFOT) complained over the hotel’s unilateral cancelation of a room they had reserved for a press conference.
“Yes, we simply don’t want to rent a room to you, so what? What can you do?” a hotel employee told TFOT president Chow Mei-li (周美里).
While such words could have been expected of an overzealous young employee, this wasn’t the case; the speaker was the hotel’s assistant manager for food and beverages, Chen Wei-teh (陳維德).
Earlier, while arguing with Chow, sales manager Michael Chen (陳行中) asked political commentator Paul Lin (林保華), who is also head of the Taiwan Youth Anti-Communist Corps, to take down a headband with his organization’s name written on it, saying it was inappropriate to do so “in a business establishment in operation.”
“I know that, but we are an officially registered NGO [non-governmental organization]. How can it be ‘inappropriate’ to show the organization’s name in a business establishment that is open to the public?” Lin asked.
Chen did not answer.
Such clashes pitting Taiwanese against Taiwanese occurred over a delegation headed by Sichuan Province Governor Jiang Jufeng (蔣巨峰), who was taking part in a symposium on business and tourism in Sichuan at the hotel.
One of the hotel employees said the Grand Hotel management was just trying to avoid an “unpleasant sight” for the Chinese guests.
Yesterday’s unusual incident wasn’t the first one since Jiang arrived on Saturday night.
On Sunday, when Tibet support groups staged a demonstration at Taipei Zoo’s Panda Hall as Jiang was visiting, zoo officials rerouted Jiang’s tour to avoid his coming into contact with protesters.
Oddly enough, it appears that Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) was not told of the change and waited at the main entrance to greet Jiang, only to see Jiang’s convoy pass him by.
More worrying, while the host of an event would normally oversee media affairs, when Jiang visited the zoo, members of his delegation told reporters what to do, with zoo and city officials standing aside, silent.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
RSS