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.
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
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