The Presidential Office yesterday announced its plans for the New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony, to be themed “Made in Taiwan, Made for the Future,” with industry professionals leading the singing of the national anthem.
The ceremony is also to feature limited-edition “2025 Presidential Office”-branded Kuai Kuai snacks, while President William Lai (賴清德) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) are to hand out Lunar New Year spring couplets and red envelopes at 9am, Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said at a news conference hosted by Presidential Office spokesman Lii Wen (李問) and attended by Pan, Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Mark Ho (何志偉) and Manufacturers United General Association of Industrial Parks of ROC chairman Lai Po-szu (賴博司).
The ceremony is to start with a performance by the Zhuangjing Vocational High School marching band, followed by classic songs performed by the bands Jubah Hitam — formed by Indonesian migrant workers — and Mr Recycle, whose members are engineers from the Hsinchu Science Park, Lai Po-szu said.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
The highlight of the event is to be a joint performance by manufacturing industry leaders and professional theater performers, with the four themes “under the sea,” “world-class machinery,” “artistic heritage” and “innovative manufacturing,” he said.
This year’s celebrations are to begin at 4:30am, with attendees to receive breakfast and souvenirs, he added.
Performances and activities are to be held from 9am until 5pm, including an animated film exhibition in the office’s main reception hall, and further exhibitions in the north and south courtyards that would include cultural and creative markets, a farmers’ market and democracy-themed stalls, Pan said.
This year’s theme would be celebrating Taiwan’s past manufacturing success and eyeing a future driven by artificial intelligence, science and technology, with the new year hopefully bringing economic developments and industry breakthroughs, Lii said.
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS