The Ministry of Culture is to issue a separate stimulus voucher to stimulate the arts and culture industries, which have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) said that the ministry is to issue separate vouchers, as the Executive Yuan’s Triple Stimulus Voucher program would not feed into culture and arts without government policies to lead the way.
The ministry’s vouchers are expected to add NT$5 billion (US$168.16 million) to the industries, with more than 10,000 businesses to benefit, Lee said.
Photo: Ling Mei-hsueh, Taipei Times
Two million vouchers of NT$600 each are to be issued and would be redeemable via a mobile application, Lee said, adding that they would be valid from July 22 through the end of this year.
Every Republic of China citizen and foreign spouse with an Alien Resident Certificate would be eligible for the ministry’s vouchers, with a limit of one per person, Department of Cultural and Creative Development Businesses Director Chen Yue-yi (陳悅宜) said.
Culture and exhibition halls, concert halls, bookstores and record stores, movie theaters, and prepurchased tickets to cultural and arts events are the four main ways the vouchers can be used, Lee said.
Expenses for the ministry’s vouchers are estimated at NT$1.2 billion, Lee said.
Businesses would need to register to be able to accept the vouchers and once approved, could start using a separate app to log payments made with them, Lee said, adding that businesses would be refunded weekly for the vouchers they accept.
The ministry would prepare a special budget for elderly people and children, as the vouchers might not be accessible to them, as they are to be redeemed on mobile devices, he said.
The ministry is to hold eight sessions nationwide to explain the program, Chen said, adding that the mobile app would provide information on where the vouchers can be used.
The ministry would try to release the mobile app by July 22, she said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has instructed that voucher programs observe the basic tenets of the Triple Stimulus Vouchers: “Easy to get, easy to use and facilitating economic stimulation,” Executive Yuan spokesman Ting Yi-ming (丁怡銘) said.
Paper Windmill Educational Foundation executive director Lee Yung-feng (李永豐) said that he supports the ministry’s program, adding that the vouchers would make up for the lack of people attending performances.
Separately, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-chung (祁文中) said that his ministry’s subsidy program was aimed at encouraging people to travel.
The program hopes to change the habit of independent trips and encourage group tours, Chi said.
A stimulus program has not been planned for international travel, but the transport ministry is mulling whether a relief program is needed to help travel agencies, he said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS