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.
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