By the first month of the lunar calendar, Taichung is to establish an online platform that would improve residents’ access to city services, the Taichung City Government said on Tuesday.
The move is the first step toward offering comprehensive services rivaling, if not surpassing, that offered by “resident cards” in other special municipalities, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) told a city governance meeting.
The first phase of the platform’s implementation would help residents discover city events, expedite their visits to city offices and assist them in borrowing public library materials, she added.
Photo: CNA
“After a year of research, Taichung has caught up with other special municipalities — and perhaps even overtaken them — with the issue of digital resident cards,” Lu said.
On the platform, residents can electronically register or apply for government services, pay fees, apply to lease a venue for an event, she added.
At the beginning of the month, the city government opened preregistration for the online platform, Lu said, adding that 56 percent of Taichung residents have registered, showing their receptiveness to the platform.
Along with the focus on a “digital card,” the city government is offering a physical card to people who require one, she said.
While the first phase would begin in March, the second phase — online service payments, a part of the platform still under development — would begin by the end of next year, she added.
Funding for the system is being reviewed by the Taichung City Council, Lu said.
Wu Huang-sheng (吳皇昇), chairman of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission’s Taichung branch, said that the Economic Development Bureau and local business owners would collaborate on a Taichung Shopping Festival event.
Taichung residents with a digital card would be eligible for discounts from vendors, he added.
Unlike most countries, Taiwan cannot use its country’s own name to compete in the Olympic Games or other major international sports events. Instead, it participates under the name “Chinese Taipei,” a name that causes confusion and sparks curiosity among many people, including an American director who explored the topic in his new documentary. Garret Clarke, the director of the 20-minute documentary What’s in a Name? A Chinese Taipei Story, said in an recent media interview said that he was motivated to make the documentary because he finds the name “Chinese Taipei” to be “weird.” The dispute that eventually created the name dates back
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to
The trailer of a new TV series portraying a Chinese attack on Taiwan has prompted a wave of emotional response and discussion in the nation. The teaser for Zero Day (零日攻擊), a Taiwanese production partly funded by the government and is expected to air next year, has given many viewers a sense of urgency. Its release this week coincided with annual air raid drills to prepare the nation’s 23 million residents in the event of an invasion by the Chinese military. “I burst into tears watching this. I feel heavy-hearted, and it is scary. However, this is what we need to face
CASUALTIES: The typhoon has left seven people dead, run cargo ships aground and caused landslides that have severed roads and left people stranded, officials said Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳) on Thursday, has left seven dead, one missing and 785 injured since Wednesday, the Central Emergency Operations Center said. The casualties announced by the center as of 2pm yesterday included two men who died in separate incidents, a 65-year-old in Tainan and a 75-year-old in Yunlin County. The man in Tainan was taken to hospital after he had fallen doing home repair work, while the man in Yunlin, who was driving a scooter on his way home, was taken to hospital after he was hit by falling tree branches and crashed,