The Summer Universiade Athletes’ Village in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) was officially opened yesterday.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), International University Sports Federation president Oleg Matytsin, Taipei Universiade Organizing Committee chief executive officer Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊) and Athletes’ Village director Chiang Han-sun (江漢聲) attended the opening ceremony yesterday afternoon.
“Taipei is now ready to welcome the world with the best of our hospitality,” Ko said in his speech.
Photo: CNA
The village includes 34 buildings, each 12 stories to 21 stories high. Athletes’ accommodation ranging from one to four-bedroom units occupies 23 of the buildings, each of which has a rest area, a service counter and a medical room.
The village has a cafeteria that can seat up to 3,500 people, is to run 20 hours per day and should serve an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 meals daily featuring different cuisines from around the world.
Commercial services, such as dry cleaners, beauty salons, flower shops, banks, a post office and an official souvenir shop are also included.
Photo: CNA
A central security command center has been set up in the village and more than 500 officers have been stationed there, Taipei Special Police Corps deputy chief Lin Chun-yi (林浚奕) said, adding that they are to conduct patrols around the clock to keep the athletes safe.
A 3m-high fence around the perimeter of the village is to channel all people entering and leaving the area through restricted checkpoints at designated entrances, Lin said.
To enter the village, athletes must wear their identification badges, which are to be checked by card readers, he said, adding that their belongings are to also be checked by an X-ray machine.
Photo: CNA
Athletes must also pass through a metal detector door and may be scanned with a handheld metal detector if necessary, Lin said.
Any cars entering the village are to be checked with metal detectors and under-vehicle explosive scanners, he added.
During Ko’s visit, he lay down on a bed in a three-bedroom unit to test its comfort level, drank a cup of bubble milk tea and ate a few Taiwanese snacks from the cafeteria.
The bedroom unit was nice, especially the air-conditioning, Ko said, adding that he thinks the scale and quality of the village, especially the cafeteria, were better than the village in South Korea’s Gwangju he had visited.
Responding to questions about not being able to play the national anthem or raise the national flag during the opening ceremony, he said: “The city government has done the best it could, but the [Chinese Taipei Universiade] flag and the [national flag] anthem were registered with the application to hold the games.”
The city government must conform to the Agreement Between the International Olympic Committee, Lausanne and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, Taipei, Ko said.
Responding to questions about why he said “Taiwan” rather than “Chinese Taipei” in his opening speech yesterday, Ko said: “We are Taiwan. Otherwise, who are we?”
The Summer Universiade is to be held from Saturday to Aug. 30. More than 7,639 athletes are expected to compete.
Additional reporting by CNA
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a seminar in Taipei for experts from Taiwan and Japan to exchange their experiences on the designs and development of public toilets. Japan Toilet Association chairman Kohei Yamamoto said that he was impressed with the eco-toilet set up at Daan Forest Park, adding that Japan still faces issues regarding public restrooms despite the progress it made over the past decades. For example, an all-gender toilet was set up in Kabukicho in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District several years ago, but it caused a public backlash and was rebuilt into traditional men’s and women’s toilets, he said. Japan Toilet Association
RSS