A netizen’s petition to change Taiwan’s time zone from the same as China’s to that of Japan and South Korea has gathered enough signatures on an official Web site to prompt an official response, the National Development Council said on Thursday.
When petitions receive more than 5,000 signatures within 60 days on the online public policy participation platform, which the council created in 2015, a government agency must be designated to issue a public response via the platform within two months.
Council Director of Information Management Chuang Ming-fen (莊明芬) said an agency would be appointed to the petition within seven days and would have to respond by Dec. 19.
“The netizen’s proposal touches upon the jurisdiction of several ministries. The council is coordinating with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Ministry of the Interior and others,” Chuang said.
The netizen who launched the petition said that the country should leave the GMT+8 time zone, which it shares with Malaysia, China and parts of Indonesia and Australia, to the GMT+9 time zone, which covers Japan and South Korea.
The petition had garnered 7,879 signatures at press time last night.
“In the past, Taiwan belonged to GMT+9. North and South Korea, which are at similar latitudes with Taiwan, are also in the GMT+9 timezone. Switching time zone from GMT+8 to GMT+9 symbolically removes Taiwan from China and will serve as a subconscious reminder to Chinese and other foreign tourists in Taiwan that the country is not subordinated to China,” the petition said.
Moving the clock forward one hour would also save sunlight, the petition said.
A change of time zone would compel airports and airlines to change flight schedules, and systems for ticketing and sales, Civil Aeronautics Administration Air Transport Division Director Han Chen-hua (韓振華) said.
“The cost would be substantial and it would affect domestic airlines as well as foreign airlines that operate in Taiwan,” Han said.
Changing flight schedules would likely be troublesome because doing so would affect domestic and foreign airports, travel agencies, as well as hotels at the origin, destination and layover points for all of the country’s inbound and outgoing flights, an airline manager said on condition of anonymity.
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Co spokesman Lee Chien-kuo (李建國) said changing the country’s time zone would confuse travelers and disrupt the way of calculating time they are familiar with.
“This will cause difficulties, particularly with layover flights,” Lee said.
The airport handles 600 flights per day to and from 157 destinations and is used by 86 airlines, Lee said.
INTERNATIONAL WEED DAY: Advocates are to hold a demonstration to push for the decriminalization of marijuana and allowing its use for treatment of certain conditions It is time for Taiwanese society to examine the medical benefits of cannabis, in line with the international trend to lift restrictions on and decriminalize the use of marijuana, two legislators said yesterday, ahead of tomorrow’s “Rally for Equal Rights for Cannabis” in Taipei. Taiwan is one of a few countries holding a “420 International Weed Day” event — which usually takes place around the April 20 weekend — as most nations have canceled it this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said organizer Green Sensation, which is composed of doctors, lawyers and entertainers, among others. The group released a
The navy’s new 10,600-tonne warship is on Tuesday to be christened the ROCN Yushan (玉山), as the nation’s indigenous shipbuilding program reaches a milestone, sources said yesterday. The vessel, previously referred to as the “new landing platform dock,” was at a shipyard with its name freshly painted on the hull with the number 1401, the Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported yesterday, citing an unnamed observer. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), a member of the legislature’s National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, confirmed the report in a Facebook post. The NT$4.635 billion (US$163 million) ship is designed
DIALOGUE SOUGHT: Washington said it was concerned about the pattern of ongoing attempts to intimidate Taiwan after the 10th day of PLA activity in the region The US on Monday urged Beijing to stop its multifaceted pressure campaign against Taiwan after China sent 25 military jets into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. “The United States notes with concern the pattern of ongoing PRC [People’s Republic of China] attempts to intimidate the region, including Taiwan,” a US Department of State spokesperson said in an e-mail response to questions. “We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwan, and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan.” The Ministry of National Defense said that 25 Chinese military aircraft entered the zone on Monday. It was the 10th straight
‘NOT ENTHUSIASTIC’: People who have been approved by the CECC as special cases who need to travel, such as foreign diplomats, would be able to receive a vaccine The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday expanded the eligibility for COVID-19 vaccination to the fourth priority group — people who need to travel abroad for special reasons — adding that out-of-pocket vaccines would be available from Wednesday next week. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said although Taiwan’s COVID-19 vaccination program was on Monday expanded to include the top three groups in the priority list, people are still “not enthusiastic” about getting vaccinated. “Only 1,220 people received a vaccine shot on Tuesday, and a total of 27,113 people have received COVID-19 vaccination” so far, he
RSS