Pop diva A-mei (阿妹) New Year’s Eve concert at Taitung’s International Landmark Seaside Park could serve as a “stress test” of transport capacity in southeast Taiwan, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
The singer, also known as Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹) in Mandarin, announced on Sept. 24 that she would hold a New Year’s Eve concert in her hometown that would be free.
Given that a large number of A-mei fans and New Year’s Eve revelers are likely to flock to Taitung over the holiday, especially with the nation’s borders closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has instructed ministry officials to make plans to facilitate visitor transportation as early as possible, based on the lessons learned during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Double-Ten National Day holidays, the ministry said.
Hotels in downtown Taitung are fully booked for New Year’s Eve, Tourism Bureau data showed.
The average occupancy rate at hotels in other parts of Taitung has surged to 80 percent for New Year’s Eve and 70 percent for the night of Jan. 1, the data showed.
Lin sees the concert and other holiday events in the county as a test of its maximum transport capacity, or the collective total of visitors arriving by railway, highway and domestic flights, the ministry said, adding that the results would serve as an important reference when planning transportation for large events in Taitung.
Domestic carriers have proposed offering charter flights between Taipei and Taitung on New Year’s Eve, with a shuttle bus to the concert, the ministry added.
Civil Aeronautics Administration and Tourism Bureau officials are discussing with travel operators the possibility of offering charter flights between Taichung and Taitung on New Year’s Eve and during the Lunar New Year holiday.
As the South Link Line is to be fully electrified by the end of next month, the Taiwan Railways Administration is to increase train services to Taitung via the North Link and South Link lines, it added.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
RSS