The Summer Universiade Athletes’ Village in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) was officially opened yesterday.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), International University Sports Federation president Oleg Matytsin, Taipei Universiade Organizing Committee chief executive officer Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊) and Athletes’ Village director Chiang Han-sun (江漢聲) attended the opening ceremony yesterday afternoon.
“Taipei is now ready to welcome the world with the best of our hospitality,” Ko said in his speech.
Photo: CNA
The village includes 34 buildings, each 12 stories to 21 stories high. Athletes’ accommodation ranging from one to four-bedroom units occupies 23 of the buildings, each of which has a rest area, a service counter and a medical room.
The village has a cafeteria that can seat up to 3,500 people, is to run 20 hours per day and should serve an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 meals daily featuring different cuisines from around the world.
Commercial services, such as dry cleaners, beauty salons, flower shops, banks, a post office and an official souvenir shop are also included.
Photo: CNA
A central security command center has been set up in the village and more than 500 officers have been stationed there, Taipei Special Police Corps deputy chief Lin Chun-yi (林浚奕) said, adding that they are to conduct patrols around the clock to keep the athletes safe.
A 3m-high fence around the perimeter of the village is to channel all people entering and leaving the area through restricted checkpoints at designated entrances, Lin said.
To enter the village, athletes must wear their identification badges, which are to be checked by card readers, he said, adding that their belongings are to also be checked by an X-ray machine.
Photo: CNA
Athletes must also pass through a metal detector door and may be scanned with a handheld metal detector if necessary, Lin said.
Any cars entering the village are to be checked with metal detectors and under-vehicle explosive scanners, he added.
During Ko’s visit, he lay down on a bed in a three-bedroom unit to test its comfort level, drank a cup of bubble milk tea and ate a few Taiwanese snacks from the cafeteria.
The bedroom unit was nice, especially the air-conditioning, Ko said, adding that he thinks the scale and quality of the village, especially the cafeteria, were better than the village in South Korea’s Gwangju he had visited.
Responding to questions about not being able to play the national anthem or raise the national flag during the opening ceremony, he said: “The city government has done the best it could, but the [Chinese Taipei Universiade] flag and the [national flag] anthem were registered with the application to hold the games.”
The city government must conform to the Agreement Between the International Olympic Committee, Lausanne and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, Taipei, Ko said.
Responding to questions about why he said “Taiwan” rather than “Chinese Taipei” in his opening speech yesterday, Ko said: “We are Taiwan. Otherwise, who are we?”
The Summer Universiade is to be held from Saturday to Aug. 30. More than 7,639 athletes are expected to compete.
Additional reporting by CNA
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS