Free entrance to a baseball game is being planned as a test for the Taipei Dome, which is scheduled to begin trial operations next month after more than a decade of construction, a Taipei City Government official said on Monday.
Taipei Department of Sports Commissioner Wang Hung-shiang (王泓翔) made the remarks at a city council meeting after being asked about progress on opening the venue, which has been under construction since 2012.
The Taipei Dome is expected to conduct a closed-door test event early next month, with a warm-up baseball game to be held in the middle of the month, the tickets to which would be free, Wang said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan
Wang’s remarks come after Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) last week said that the stadium had passed fire safety tests and was expected to receive its operating license late this month.
During Monday’s meeting, questions were also raised about the operating license and whether concerts would be held at the facility, as reports have said that the project’s main contractor, Farglory Group, did not apply for permission for such events.
Taipei Dome Preparatory Office deputy director Chen Shih-hao (陳世浩) said that the stadium’s use would be defined in the operating license, which has yet to be reviewed by the Taipei Construction Management Office.
The Taipei Dome is a multipurpose stadium, Chen said, adding that if concerts were held there, they would be governed by Ministry of the Interior regulations.
The venue is primarily a sports stadium, mostly for baseball, and events outside of that purpose would require separate applications, Wang said.
For the time being, it is hoped that Farglory Group would prioritize the venue for baseball, he said.
Preparations are being made for the Taipei Dome to host Asian Baseball Championship games in December.
Construction on the 40,000-seat stadium began in 2012, but dragged on for years due to repeated delays and disputes between Farglory Group and the city government.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
RSS