Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted Farglory Group (遠雄集團) and the Taipei City Government for not addressing safety issues at the Taipei Dome, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 baseball tournament to start next week.
The Taipei Construction Management Office posted notices at the entrances to the Taipei Dome after the stadium failed the latest safety inspection on Tuesday. City officials also fined Farglory, which owns and operates the venue, NT$120,000.
Farglory has not received a public safety inspection certification, which requires the company to repair leaks and other problems at the Taipei Dome, and conduct crowd evacuation drills, as is required within one year of receiving its operation license, city councilors said.
Photo Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Taipei is to host some of the Group B Premier12 games at the Taipei Dome and the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium starting on Wednesday next week, along with Nagoya, Japan. Mexico is hosting the Group A games.
When the tournament starts at the Taipei Dome, baseball officials, coaches and players from other countries would see the notices at the entrances stating that the venue is not safe, Taipei City Councilor Lee Ming-hsien (李明賢) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said.
“It would become an international joke, and would be quite embarrassing,” he said.
Lee added that Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) seemed unconcerned, inviting other city mayors to watch the games next week, even while city officials were issuing the fine.
The city government gave Farglory Group 10 days to carry out safety checks at the stadium, Lee said, adding that he wants Farglory to complete the checks and evacuation drills within two days, and pass an inspection to be certified before the tournament starts.
Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) of the Democratic Progressive Party said she joined the council’s Public Works Committee for an inspection earlier this week, when it found that water leaks had not been addressed, including at 100 spots affecting spectators and part of the playing field.
The venue also has major problems with its evacuation route, she said.
“Civil engineers at the inspection said the main issues causing the leaks were likely the welding on the roof and the poor design of water runoff troughs,” which would require extensive work, Hsu said.
The Farglory staff showed an uncooperative attitude during the inspection, were unable to answer questions asked by city councilors and could not provide a schedule for repairs, she said.
For the 100 water leaks, Farglory used tape to temporarily patch them, she added.
“It is clear that Farglory has been negligent and slow to address these problems,” she said.
At the opening Premier12 games in Taiwan on Wednesday next week, starting at 6:30pm, the Dominican Republic would face Cuba at Tianmu, while Taiwan is to host South Korea at the Taipei Dome.
The next day, Taiwan would play the Dominican Republic at the Taipei Dome, where it would also face Japan on Saturday next week.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
NO RIGHT: After 38 years of martial law under the former KMT government, the KMT is the least qualified to accuse others of harboring such intentions, DPP officials said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of creating a stir on social media by implying that the government supports martial law, adding that the KMT is the least qualified to criticize others after decades of martial law in Taiwan under the former KMT regime. After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late on Tuesday night declared martial law (which was rescinded six hours later), the DPP caucus issued a statement on Thread saying that Taiwan’s legislature was facing a situation similar to that in South Korea, which had prompted Yoon to declare martial law. “The South
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the
RSS