DIPLOMACY
Speaker’s diplomatic visit
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) is to leave today on a visit to the US and Central America, during which he will deliver a speech in Anchorage, Alaska, and meet with the UN mission chiefs of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in New York. On the Central American leg of the trip, Wang is to visit diplomatic allies Nicaragua and El Salvador. In the US, Wang is to give a speech at the opening of the annual meeting of the US National Speakers Conference in Anchorage. He is then to travel to New York, where he will host a dinner in honor of the UN ambassadors of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies. He is scheduled to depart New York on Aug. 22 for Nicaragua followed by El Salvador.
TRAVEL
Philippines mulls visa deal
The Philippines is to hopefully grant Taiwanese visa waiver status by the end of the year, according to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍). Hsu made the remarks following a recent trip to the Philippines, where she, at the head of a legislative delegation, met with six members of Philippine congress, including House Deputy Speaker Jesus Remulla and Senator Alan Cayetano. Members of the delegation included KMT legislators Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) and Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井). Taiwanese made around 190,000 visits to the Philippines last year and visa fees reached NT$300 million (US$9.98 million), Su said. If Manila decides to grant Taiwanese visa-free status, it could help increase the number of Taiwanese visitors to the country by at least 50 percent and help boost its economy, he added. According to Liao, the Philippine senators and represenatives they met on the trip all promised to encourage Manila’s Department of Foreign Affairs to grant Taiwan visa-free status as soon as possible.
TRANSPORT
Xinyi gets bus-route map
Taipei City’ Department of Transportation is providing bus-route maps at major bus stops in Xinyi District (信義) to help passengers find bus lines to their destinations in the area. The map integrates bus information around the district, including bus routes around the area, locations of major bus stops and bus lines that travel to other districts. Passengers can identify their locations and find the bus lines they need to reach their destinations. Department of Transportation Commissioner Jason Lin (林志盈) said the design of the map aims to help both residents and visitors who plan to travel around the city by bus. For example, if a foreign visitor plans to go to Taipei Main Station from Taipei 101, he or she can easily find the bus lines to the station on the map. The map is available at 28 bus stops in the distric, and portable maps are available at Taipei City Hall Transfer Station and major department stores. The department said it would expand the scope of its service and also provide bus route maps in other areas.
HEALTH
Officials impeached
The Control Yuan yesterday passed a resolution to impeach former Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine director Hsu Tien-lai (許天來) and Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Wang Cheng-teng (王政騰) for seeking to cover up January’s H5N2 avian flu outbreak. The resolution said Wang inappropriately lobbied to cover up the outbreak of flu as a favor to a friend and that Hsu had also committed illegal lobbying to cover up the outbreak. Both face disciplinary hearings.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday. A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother. Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors. The