Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening.
When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team.
However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku Su-chin (古素琴) and her employees, dressed in bright yellow uniforms, pushed their way to the front right next to Hsiao and asked her to take a group photograph with them and a banner showing the name of the store.
Photo: CNA
Tasa Meng employees were accused of “stealing the spotlight” by posing in front of the team, leaving the players in the background.
The company’s unauthorized banners and advertisements during the team’s arrival were highly inappropriate, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) told reporters at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
Taoyuan International Airport Corp must determine accountability and Tasa Meng must be fined, Chen said.
The company’s actions not only harmed the airport’s image, but disrupted airport operations, and “chaos would ensue” if other stores similarly disregarded airport protocol, he said.
Tasa Meng’s behavior contravenes their contractual obligations to airport operations, and the company could face a fine of NT$200,000 to NT$1 million, Taoyuan International Airport Corp chief executive officer Fan Hsiao-lun (范孝倫) said.
Initial investigations point to a maximum fine of NT$1 million and administrative procedures would follow to formalize the penalty, Fan said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Loh Mei-ling (羅美玲) asked National Security Bureau (NSB) officials to explain the “lack of security deployments” at the airport.
NSB Special Service Command Center deputy head Lee Ching-jan (李慶然) said the incident occurred at arrivals in a restricted area, where the situation and work necessary to ensure security was “relatively simple.”
The Sports Administration, the Aviation Police Bureau and other agencies had surveyed the site in advance to ensure it was safe, Lee said.
Loh nonetheless asked the bureau to solemnly review its work, noting that allowing the store owner and employees to suddenly approach Hsiao for a photograph highlighted security flaws that could have posed a grave danger to the vice president.
Separately, Ku yesterday issued an apology, saying that she would personally reach out to express remorse.
The company yesterday also released a statement expressing its “sincere and heartfelt” apologies to the public and the athletes.
“Baseball unites Taiwanese, and the passion and efforts of fans and athletes deserve the utmost respect and support,” the statement said.
The company pledged to allocate NT$30 million over five years to fund a seed project for the development of youth baseball in Taiwan.
The project would support underprivileged youth baseball teams by improving their training facilities and resources, it said.
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
RSS