CULTURE
Museum ethics put to the test
This year’s Taiwan International Human Rights Film Festival, which begins on Friday, aims to explore the ethical issues surrounding museum collection ownership, organizers said. Under the themes Whose Museum? and Human Rights Panorama, the National Human Rights Museum (NHRM) has curated screenings of 11 films that highlight the educational role of museums and the political conflicts surrounding appropriated cultural artifacts. One of the festival’s more recent recordings is The Treasures of Crimea by Dutch director Oeke Hoogendijk, which documents the geopolitical dispute over a collection of historical artifacts from Ukraine stranded in an Amsterdam museum following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Admission is free, with ticket information available on the festival’s website. An online version of the festival is also scheduled to take place from Monday next week until October 10th.
DEFENSE
Unmanned aircraft appears
Two Chinese planes flew into the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Saturday, including a Rainbow CH-4 remotely piloted fighter jet that was reportedly first spotted by Taiwan. Developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology, the CH-4 has a cruising speed of up to 180 km/h and a flight range of 3,500 km. The other was a Y8 anti-submarine aircraft, the Department of Defense said. The two planes were among 20 Chinese planes and five naval vessels spotted near Taiwan on Saturday, the ministry said, adding that it scrambled combat air and naval patrols and deployed anti-missile systems in response. The ministry did not disclose the flight routes of the other 18 aircraft or the locations of the naval vessels.
TO TRAVEL
Island cruises suggested
Taiwan is working with international partners to develop Pan-Asian island-hopping cruises to revitalize the travel market, said Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Chi Wen-chung (祁文中). Speaking at a cruise industry forum Tuesday last week, Chi said that Taiwan is eyeing the formation of an “Asian Archipelago Cruise Alliance” to organize itineraries along the East Asian island chain between South Korea and Indonesia. The ministry recently modernized tourist center facilities and optimized disease control measures at ports in Keelung and Kaohsiung, he said. Taiwan was the second largest cruise market in Asia, with about 1.06 million international travelers from 600 cruise lines arriving each year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
TO TRAVEL
CAL opens routes to Cebu and Thailand
China Airlines (CAL) announced last week that it will soon launch direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Cebu in the Philippines and Chiang Mai in Thailand. The Taiwanese carrier said flights to Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines, would start four days a week from December 1. The flights, which are to use an Airbus A321neo, are scheduled to depart at 7:40 a.m. and arrive in Cebu at 10:35 a.m., with return flights from the Philippines at 11:35 a.m., CAL said. Flights to Chiang Mai are scheduled to begin on January 20 with an A321neo, four days a week departing at 7:50am, arriving at 11am and leaving Thailand at 12pm.
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