The nation’s largest bicycle manufacturer and biggest flight carrier signed a memorandum yesterday in a bid to tap into the recent cycling craze.
Giant chairman King Liu (劉金標) and China Airlines (CAL) chairman Philip Wei (魏幸雄) attended the ceremony yesterday morning to sign the agreement.
Janice Lai (賴瑟珍), Tourism Bureau director-general, attended the ceremony as a special guest and said the government had budgeted about NT$700 million (US$21 million) to expand the nation’s bicycle routes. A majority of the funding will be dedicated to construction along the east coast, where bikers can enjoy spectacular views and quality bike tours.
Giant president John Ho (何守仁) said both companies had exchanged thoughts on the proposal of tracking the kilometers that bikers travel in Taiwan and converting them to flight mileage on CAL’s membership cards. CAL, however, had not yet decided whether to implement the plan, Ho said.
Giant also said it was also in the process of applying with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications for an official license to operate a travel agency that offers bike tour services.
In related news, the Taiwan Railway Administration and the Northeast and Ilan Coast National Scenic Area Administration are jointly promoting a cruise train service that allows travelers to tour around the nation’s northeast coast with bicycles.
The train will depart on Saturday from Taipei and go strait to Fulong (福隆), where the train will stay for four hours.
Those participating in the bike tour will receive a small gift, officials said.
After Fulong, the train will bring the tourists to a forestry park in Lotung (羅東), where they can see old locomotives, railways and wooden craftwork.
Reservations for the cruise train can be made online or at train stations.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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