New policies proposed by the Taipei City Government only rebrand existing policies and do not offer anything new, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Ho Meng-hua (何孟樺) said yesterday.
The comments came after Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) on Tuesday announced six short-term economic revitalization plans that his administration would implement during the Taiwan Lantern Festival, which runs through Feb. 19.
Chiang’s plans involve a sales promotion, an expansion of the festival, a program to revitalize shopping districts and markets, a campaign focused on value-added agriculture, boosting tourism and stimulus loans.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
They also involve launching stimulus vouchers at night markets and points programs at designated shops that involve a lottery.
The plans do not amount to a comprehensive strategy, Ho wrote on Facebook yesterday, the first day of the festival, accusing Chiang of trying to deceive Taipei residents.
After the mayor announced the plans, Ho said she contacted the departments involved, but many of them did not know anything about them.
The plans involve at least 11 items that were either implemented last year or are carried out routinely each year, she said.
Chiang’s plan to distribute stimulus vouchers on Dihua Street is based on a plan made by several shopping district promotion associations last year, but his administration claims that it is its own idea, Ho said.
Other measures are insufficient, Ho said, citing a promotion for lantern festival shopping districts with a budget of only NT$120,000 that does not set any goals.
Such plans are ineffective and a waste of funds, she said, calling them worse than plans announced by Chiang’s predecessor, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Taipei Department of Economic Development Director Chen Chun-an (陳俊安) said the Chiang administration’s efforts to revitalize shopping districts is an ongoing project that is under rolling review.
Some of Chiang’s plans are built upon existing measures and add new elements to them, Chen added.
Additional reporting by CNA
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS