The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung.
The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River.
Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union.
Photo courtesy of Timo Fischer via CNA
Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of ties, most of Hamburg’s residents do not know that relationship exists, Fischer told the Central News Agency in an interview.
“It was time to let the people of Hamburg know about the relationship and to let them see it,” he said.
Hamburg is known as a city with many bridges — more than 2,500, according to city statistics, Fischer said, adding that bridges are more than a means to cross obstacles, but “symbolize a connection between two places separated by water, as well as means to unite cultures and bridge political divides.”
While the Kaohsiung-Brucke is small, it has helped shorten the distance between Taiwan and Germany, he said, adding that he hoped the name would instill in residents who cross it a sense of curiosity and prompt them to learn more about Taiwan.
An initial plan had been to rename a local street after Kaohsiung, but the review process rejected that proposal because the name was not in line with German road-naming conventions, Fischer said, adding that the program then turned its sights on the then-unnamed F566 pedestrian bridge.
“The year-long process from proposal to formal naming was fraught with challenges, including opposition from far-right parties,” he said.
Kaohsiung and Hamburg are port cities that are shaped by the economy, the ocean and culture, Fischer said.
Interaction between democratic countries should not stop at the diplomatic level — local city representatives should also take part, Fischer said, adding that connections with countries that value the democratic way of government, such as Taiwan, should be sought through more friendly actions like the bridge renaming.
Asked about his impressions of Taiwan, Fischer said that most Taiwanese he knows are friendly, curious about the world and enthusiastic about delicious gastronomy.
His deepest impressions when visiting Taiwan was that people would not only pick up their own litter, but would also pick up the litter of others, demonstrating a healthy respect for the public domain, he said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS