People aged 16 to 22 would soon be eligible to receive an annual NT$500 (US$16.46) voucher for sporting events, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday.
The policy aims to promote the development of the sports industry, and foster good exercise habits among the younger generation, it said.
About 1.65 million people would benefit from the policy, the Cabinet said.
Photo: CNA
The vouchers, released as QR codes, would be available to those born from Jan. 1, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2007, and can be obtained online from June 1 to Dec. 31 and redeemed at designated locations.
The vouchers would be issued annually beginning this year, the Executive Yuan said.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) has said that similar vouchers, distributed twice during the COVID-19 pandemic, brought about NT$5.7 billion in benefits and NT$3.3 billion in spillover effects, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉承) said.
The voucher program is expected to cost up to NT$825 million, and the funds would be sourced from the sports development fund, Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟) said.
The ministry hopes to achieve 1.5 to 2.5 times the benefits of vouchers cashed in, Lin said.
The age limits for the vouchers were set according to the Sports Administration’s sports participation statistics, which showed that 80 percent of elementary-school-aged children participated in sports, with junior-high-school students falling to 67 percent, 58 percent for high-school students and less than 50 percent for college students.
The Executive Yuan is also planning to provide a NT$1,200 “coming of age” subsidy, as well as allocate NT$22 billion for a post-pandemic school loan subsidy program to alleviate financial burdens for 550,000 students taking out loans for their education.
The government is planning to promote public transportation monthly passes in Taiwan proper, and potentially similar discounts for transportation in outlying islands, to lower travel expenses for students and commuters, Chen said.
The government’s NT$30 billion rental subsidy program would drop eligibility age restrictions from 20 to 18 to benefit more college students, Chen said, adding that the government has also invested NT$4.5 billion in funds to upgrade school dormitories and campuses.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
LONG-HELD POSITION: Washington has repeatedly and clearly reiterated its support for Taiwan and its long-term policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that Taiwan should not be concerned about being used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade talks. “I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is, we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio told reporters aboard his airplane traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “No one is contemplating that,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying. A US Treasury spokesman yesterday told reporters
RSS