More than 23 million people, or 98.35 percent of Taiwan’s population, had obtained Triple Stimulus Vouchers by Thursday — the deadline for the program launched by the government in July last year to boost the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The stimulus program gave the economy a boost, thanks to the NT$3,000 (US$105) vouchers’ wide distribution, the ministry said.
The retail and food sectors benefited most, with both sectors recording their highest-ever monthly revenue in the second half of last year, the ministry said.
National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said that the program contributed NT$100 billion to Taiwan’s GDP.
When the program ended on Thursday, 98.35 percent of eligible residents had claimed the vouchers, with 21.51 million having obtained paper vouchers and 1.81 million electronic vouchers, the ministry said.
To encourage participation in the program, the government implemented a system that required people to pay NT$1,000 to claim the vouchers.
Initially, they were available only to Taiwanese and their foreign spouses with residency in the nation, but in November last year, the government extended the program to foreign diplomats and the approximately 13,000 holders of Alien Permanent Resident Certificates.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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