The nation’s soccer community voiced its opposition yesterday to a plan by the Taipei City Government to convert the country’s only dedicated soccer stadium into a permanent exhibition hall after the conclusion of the Taipei International Flora Exposition.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) and representatives of local soccer groups said the city government should keep its promise to restore the stadium to its original use after the Flora Expo, to be held from Nov. 6 to April 25.
They said Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) promised two years ago that the stadium would be closed only “temporarily” to serve as a venue for an indoor floral design competitions and special exhibits during the Flora Expo.
PHOTO: CNA
However, the city government and the Ministry of Economic Affairs now plan to permanently convert the stadium and the surrounding area into a display center for top quality products from Taiwan, Wu said.
“It is really sad for soccer fans that the Zhongshan Soccer Stadium will no longer function as a sports facility because of the Flora Expo,” said Chang Yao-ming (張耀明), a former soccer player who now coaches a soccer team for the Shilin Sports Federation.
Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典), founder of the Taipei Veterans General Hospital Football Association, also stressed that Zhongshan Soccer Stadium is the only stadium in the country designed specifically for soccer and approved by FIFA for international matches.
“If it is demolished, soccer matches will have to be held at non-soccer stadiums, such as the Kaohsiung Stadium or Taipei Stadium,” Kuo said at a press conference hosted by Wu. “Soccer will therefore have to share limited space with other sports.”
The city government said that it has planned supplementary measures to deal with the issue.
Wang San-chung (王三中), chief secretary of the city government’s Department of Economic Development, said that more soccer fields will be built for the city’s schools with soccer teams.
He also suggested that Yin Feng Sports Park, Bailing Sports Park and Taipei Stadium could all be used for soccer matches.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we