Taiwanese fans who just last Friday were celebrating the news that Celine Dion would be appearing in Taipei in October discovered late on Wednesday that she had canceled her planned Asian tour and other performances.
A statement posted on Dion’s Facebook page on Wednesday said that she had decided to “postpone all of her show business activities indefinitely, in order to focus 100% of her attention on her husband Rene, their family, and associated health issue.”
“Since Rene’s surgery last December to remove a cancerous tumor, it’s been a very difficult and stressful time for the couple as they deal with the day-to-day challenges of fighting this disease while trying to juggle a very active show business schedule, and raise their three young children,” the statement said.
“Celine has also been fighting an illness that has caused inflammation in her throat muscles, and has not been able to perform any of her scheduled shows in Las Vegas since her last show on July 29th. She has still not recovered from this condition,” the statement said.
Dion was also quoted as saying that she wanted to “devote every ounce of my strength and energy to my husband’s healing” and “it’s important for me to dedicate this time to him and to our children.”
She apologized to her fans for the inconvenience and thanked them for their love and support.
The organizer of the Taipei concert, Kuang Hong Arts, confirmed that Dion had canceled all nine concerts on her Asia tour.
The company said that it had no further information other than what had been posted in the Facebook announcement.
However, Dion’s announcement gave renewed hope to Mariah Carey fans.
Carey had been planning an October performance in Taipei, but her organizers, Yu Kuang Music, canceled it after losing out on the Taipei Arena to Dion’s representatives.
“We were previously told that she was able to come between Oct. 27 and Oct. 30. After being told that the Taipei Arena was not available for use during that time, Carey’s team gave the spot to other Asian countries on the waiting list. They then scheduled a concert in Manila on Oct. 28, launching ticket sales yesterday,” Yu Kuang media contact Amy Ke (柯曉雲) said.
Ke said that her company contacted Carey’s agent as soon as it heard the news of Dion’s tour cancelation and are hoping that they can arrange for her to perform in Taipei on Oct. 30.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS