The Taipei Department of Information and Tourism yesterday said city departments may invite people to the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taipei as VIPs, following claims that the Taipei City Government had asked its personnel to attend the event’s main light show after work.
The festival began on Feb. 5 and runs until Sunday.
Some city government employees have said the city requested that they attend the festival’s main light show as VIPs, and asked them to watch the special performances.
Photo: CNA
Asked about the claims, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government’s only hope is that the event proceeds smoothly.
The city encourages Taiwanese and foreigners in the nation to see the festival, as there only a few days left, he said.
The department later said it is customary for the festival organizer to invite city personnel to watch the main light show from a special area.
The city government has 120 such seats this year, it said, adding that city departments can invite groups and individuals, such as industrial representatives, healthcare personnel and volunteers, as VIPs.
The number of VIP guests would not be reflected in the departments’ key performance indicators, the department said.
It added that members of the public can apply to enter the VIP area to view the main light show, which starts at 8pm every evening.
The practice is a first for the festival, and has been approved by the Tourism Bureau, the department said.
It added that department staff and volunteers would assist the public to their seats and keep the environment clean.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS