The Coast Guard Administration and Kaohsiung port police will move their facilities at Shaochuantou (哨船頭) to make room for a project to restore historic piers in the area, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said on Wednesday last week.
The Hsingbin Project seeks to establish a heritage site dedicated to the city’s maritime history, Lai said, adding that the project will restore the Shaochuantou piers and connect them to the former British consulate at Takao (打狗).
Shaochuantou’s name comes from an old service dock, called shaochuan (哨船), used by the Qing Dynasty navy, Kaohsiung Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Lin Shang-ying (林尚瑛) said.
Photo: Courtesy of Kaohsiung Bureau of Cultural Affairs
At the time, Takao Harbor was a major international port and Shaochuantou was its primary dock, handling large commercial vessels and warships, Lin said.
The Northern Gate, 50m from the dock, was then armed with British-made Armstrong guns, which were supported by a gun battery on Chihoushan (旗後山), demonstrating the port’s strategic value, he said.
Urban development has destroyed much of the historical harbor and the Harbor No. 1 Safety Inspection Office building cut off the former British consulate building from the historic site, Lin said.
Photo: Copied by Huang Chia-lin, Taipei Times
Negotiations with port police and coast guard officials were difficult, he said, but added that restoring the piers is the right thing to do.
Lin said he was worried that abandoning the project at this stage would kill it.
Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Shih Che (史哲) attributed the successful outcome of the negotiations to Lai’s “superhuman tenacity,” adding that the lawmaker has held more than 20 rounds of negotiations since September last year to push the project.
The relocation of a safety inspection office was on Wednesday last week authorized by Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister Without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森), city officials said.
A residential building for customs officials near the former British consulate will also be relocated, Lin said.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
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
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash