Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the Democratic Progressive Party led cultural groups in a silent sit-in at Kaohsiung Harbor last night, protesting the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ opposition to a NT$4 billion (US$131 million) pop music center planned for the harbor’s piers 16 and 17.
Director-general of Kaohsiung’s Department of Information Shih Che (史哲) said the mayor decided to protest after they received a notification from the Council of Cultural Affairs that the ministry had urged the council to rethink the project because of the size of the piers and the project’s impact on the maritime industry.
Council rules state that the city government will forfeit the project if it cannot obtain the two piers from the ministry’s Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau by the end of this month.
Shi said the city government had insisted on building the center on the two piers and that it would include a third pier, Pier 15, in the project to provide sufficient land for the project.
Chen is scheduled to participate in a Cabinet meeting today, when she is expected to express the city’s commitment to proceeding with the project, Shi said.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
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Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
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