TOURISM
Arrivals fall 24.8% in April
The number of international arrivals in April declined 24.8 percent from March, the Tourism Administration said on Thursday. The agency attributed the decline to people canceling or postponing plans to visit Taiwan after an earthquake on April 3 devastated Hualien County. It said it has made promotional videos of safe travel in Hualien and has asked travel agencies to add alternative attractions to Taroko Gorge to their itineraries, as most of Hualien’s attractions have not been affected. April arrivals were 10.29 percent higher than a year earlier, agency data showed. On the other hand, arrivals from Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea and Singapore were the most affected, data showed. From January to March, monthly inbound traveler numbers increased year-on-year, they said, adding that in March, during which the Lantern Festival was held, visitor numbers rose to 811,608.
DIPLOMACY
EU envoy receives medal
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) at a ceremony in Taipei on Thursday conferred a medal on European Economic and Trade Office Head Filip Grzegorzewski. Lin presented the Friendship Medal of Diplomacy to Grzegorzewski and lauded him for his “great achievements in enhancing the partnership” between Taiwan and the EU over the past five years. Grzegorzewski has played “a crucial role” in increasing the EU’s attention to and discussions about the situation in Taiwan, Lin said. The European Council had expressed its concerns over the “growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait” and its opposition to “any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion,” he said. Praising Taiwan as a “symbol” of development, open society and freedom, Grzegorzewski said that people from Taiwan and the EU are bound by the shared values of human rights, rule of law and democracy. Taiwan and the EU are also important economic and trade partners, he said, adding that the EU was Taiwan’s largest investor, accounting for more than 25 percent of foreign direct investment. EU investment has not only contributed to Taiwan’s job market and economic development, but also connected Taiwan with the global community, he said, adding that he was “very, very proud” of this achievement.
CRIME
Men sentenced to life in jail
Four extortion ring members who carried out deadly unlawful confinements in northern Taiwan were sentenced to life in prison by the Shilin District Court on Wednesday. Tu Cheng-che (杜承哲), the group’s ringleader, was convicted on 329 charges, including unlawful confinement resulting in death, fraud, forced drug abuse, initiating a crime organization and improper disposal of a body, the court said in a statement. Hsueh Lung-ting (薛隆廷), Hung Chun-chieh (洪俊杰) and Wang Yu-chieh (王昱傑) were found guilty on 327 counts, including unlawful confinement resulting in death, fraud and forced drug abuse. The men began luring people in September 2022 to rented residences in Taoyuan’s Jhongli (中壢) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) districts by holding fake interviews for high-paying jobs and offering large sums of money to “rent out” people’s inactive bank accounts, prosecutors said. Those who responded were held against their will by the perpetrators, who took their bank passbooks, account passwords and IDs, they said. Police in November last year found 35 people in an apartment in Taoyuan and 26 in Tamsui. The captives given sleeping pills or drugs to keep them lethargic and were beaten, electrocuted or pepper-sprayed, leading to the deaths of three people.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but