President William Lai’s (賴清德) family home in New Taipei City has been turned into a miners’ museum and is to be open to the public for free from October, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced on Tuesday.
The property in Wanli District (萬里), as well as the nearby Liukeng coal mine and the ruins of its office, would form a cultural park aimed at educating the public about Taiwan’s mining history, the DPP told a news conference.
Reservations would be required and up to 20 people each on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays would be allowed to visit, the DPP said.
Photo: Chen Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
In addition to an exhibition of photographs documenting miners’ lives, visitors would also have access to guided tours and oral history activities, it said.
In a Facebook post later on Tuesday, Lai encouraged the public to visit the site, which he said would “foster mutual understanding and help unify Taiwan.”
The property was at the center of controversy during Lai’s campaign leading up to the presidential election on Jan. 13.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party accused Lai’s family of illegally expanding the property and said that the building should have been torn down by the New Taipei City government years ago.
Lai said at the time that the house is one of hundreds of renovated miners’ units built decades ago in New Taipei City, where there used to be several mining districts.
However, mining companies closed and many of the original units were purchased and renovated for safety reasons, he said.
The units predate the Regional Planning Act (區域計畫法), which prohibits unauthorized expansion, he said.
Despite believing that the property does not contravene regulations, Lai said he was sorry that it became an issue during the presidential race and jeopardized the rights of residents living in similar units.
To commemorate the contributions made by miners to Taiwan’s economic growth in the past century, Lai late last year pledged that he would transfer the rights of the Wanli property to a charitable trust and prioritize turning it into a miners’ museum.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS