Lawmakers from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party are to visit Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島) on Saturday next week to observe coast guard drills and inspect a newly constructed pier, an itinerary provided by the Legislative Yuan showed yesterday.
Twenty lawmakers from the two parties are to join the trip, which is to be led by Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee convener and KMT Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), the itinerary shows.
Taiping Island is a Taiwan-controlled island about 1,600km southwest of Kaohsiung.
Photo: Reuters
About 200 coast guard personnel overseen by the Coast Guard Administration under the Ocean Affairs Council are stationed there.
The island in the South China Sea is also claimed by Vietnam, China and the Philippines.
The inspection team is to depart for Pingtung Air Force Base in the afternoon of Friday next week after a Legislative Yuan meeting, the itinery shows.
They will then take a flight the next day at 7am and arrive on Taiping Island at about 10:30am.
Upon arrival, the team is first to take a group photo at a monument marking the island as a “key site of the Republic of China’s territory in the South China Sea,” receive an introduction to the island, observe coast guard drills, visit the newly constructed Taiping Island pier and then have lunch.
The lawmakers are scheduled to head back to Taiwan proper on a 1pm flight and are expected to arrive at Pingtung Airport at about 4:30pm, the itinerary shows.
The lawmakers originally planned to depart on Thursday next week, but the KMT caucus said it decided to postpone the trip because the Legislative Yuan is to vote on important bills on Friday next week.
Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers have not registered for the tour.
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
RSS