TOURISM
Tourism booming, Wu says
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday that the government would open tourism to independent Chinese visitors before July 1. Wu told a gathering of business leaders that more international tourists were visiting Taiwan. The number of foreign visitors has jumped from more than 3 million in 2008 to 5.56 million last year, and is expected to reach 6.5 million this year. Wu also boasted an increase in visitors from South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan during the first quarter of this year. Wu said passenger and cargo traffic at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport has grown tremendously in the past three years. Traffic volume at the airport used to be the lowest of the “Four Asian Tigers,” but it now boasts the highest figure among the four, he said.
SOCIETY
University’s donation arrives
The first NT$10 million (US$344,800) pledged by high-profile Chinese philanthropist Chen Guangbiao (陳光標) to a local university has arrived, the school announced yesterday. Shih Hsin University president Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘) said that during Chen’s visit to Taiwan early this year, he promised to donate NT$20 million to help impoverished students, after being briefed by Lai on the difficulties such students face and the school’s ideals. Chen pledged NT$20 million in funding, the second NT$10 million of which will be given next year. “We hope to use the donation to help poor students so they don’t have to take part-time jobs to support themselves and can focus instead on their studies,” Lai said. He also said that as far as he knew, Shih Hsin was the only school in Taiwan to have received a donation from Chen. The tycoon made a name for himself locally when he publicly handed out red envelopes to those who approached him.
TOURISM
Chi Chiao-tou celebrated
The annual Northern Bluefin Tuna Cultural and Sightseeing Festival hosted by the Pingtung County Government will include Chi Chiao-tou (7角頭) folk culture for the first time. The festival opened on May 4 and runs through July 3. The county government has designed a series of “wish cards” that highlight the cultural heritage of Chi Chiao-tou, which is the collective name of the seven neighborhoods in Donggang (東港), a township in the county that is famous for its bluefin tuna. Each neighborhood has its own temple and a group of folk art performers, who will participate in a triennial religious event called the “Prince Welcoming Ritual” at Donglong Temple next year. The county government has created a total of 110,000 wish cards in seven different colors, representing the uniforms that each performing group will wear during the ritual next year. The cards have been placed in the seven temples to boost tourism and promote folk culture.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
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