Chiang Kai-shek International Airport was officially renamed Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday.
"The new name will become effective as of [yesterday]," said Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (
Tsai made the remarks during a press conference held following the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning. The airport code will remain TPE, Tsai said.
Speaking on behalf of Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Government Information Office Deputy Minister William Yih (易榮宗) said that changing the airport's name to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport reflected the will of local residents.
"The Taoyuan County Government and its residents have protested and requested changing the airport's name many times. In addition, most major airports in the world are named after big cities," Yih said.
The government is hoping that the Civil Aeronautics Administration and airlines will help promote the name change to the world, Yih added.
The airport name change recently drew attention after President Chen Shui-bian (
On a separate occasion that day, Su said that the airport name change was to be discussed and approved at yesterday's weekly Cabinet meeting.
"Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport" was actually the official name for the airport when construction was completed in 1979, Su said.
But then transport minister Lin Chin-sheng (
Terminal I of the airport was completed and opened on Feb. 26, 1979, while Terminal II was opened on July 29, 2000. Approximately 29 million passengers and 149,000 airplanes land and take off from the airport every year.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would