The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end.
An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government.
A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens.
Photo courtesy of a participant at the concert
The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS group, they said.
The department provided a copy of a TVBS apology letter over the misstep, saying that workers forgot to unplug a backup laptop belonging to the projector’s subcontractor during the screen’s deactivation.
The unattended device — playing YouTube with the autoplay option turned on — was connected to the projector for the screen, the group said in the apology letter.
TVBS expresses the “deepest regret for the upset the incident had caused,” and would conduct a review of its operating procedures with hardware subcontractors to prevent mistakes from happening again, it said.
“The responsibility for playing CCTV at Taipei’s New Year’s Eve event cannot be shifted by casting blame on YouTube autoplay,” Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chang Wen-chieh (張文潔) said.
Members of the public feel that the mistake was tantamount to the city government doing China’s “united front” work for it, she said, citing calls to her office in the early hours of yesterday.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Tseng Hsien-ying (曾獻瑩) said the incident should be a reminder for the city government to be careful in handling large-scale events.
“The city should impress on its contractors that they must take particular care to prevent such mistakes,” he said.
Separately, the Freeway Bureau acknowledged “inappropriate behavior” by its personnel following reports that multiple cameras on National Freeway No. 1 on New Year’s Eve had turned to look at the fireworks at Taipei 101 from the road.
Lee Jih-chin (李日錦), head of the bureau’s northern traffic control center, said the operators assigned to seven cameras on the freeway’s Yuanshan section turned away from observing traffic.
Camera operators are supposed to watch the fireworks as a factor that could impact traffic, but the number of devices utilized was clearly excessive, he said, adding that disciplinary measures would be taken.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS