President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) envoy to the 2008 APEC forum leaders summit described his encounter with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on Friday as an “interesting” meeting between two “old friends.”
“It is very significant for old friends to meet each other outside of Asia,” former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) said at an international press conference after his 40-minute meeting with Hu at the Chinese president’s hotel. The meeting was open to the media for around five minutes.
Lien addressed Hu as “General Secretary Hu” — Hu met Lien in his capacity as general secretary of the Communist Party of China — while Hu addressed Lien as “chairman,” referring to his post as honorary chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Hu, accompanied by Wang Yi (王毅), director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said that he was happy to meet Lien again and lauded his efforts in promoting the peaceful development of cross-strait relations over the years.
Asked whether or not he carried any messages from Ma, Lien said only that he and Hu discussed “things about which we are concerned and how to direct our efforts toward peaceful development, cooperation and a win-win situation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
“We hope to put economics ahead of politics,” Lien said.
Taiwan still needs to consult with China on the signing of investment guarantee agreements for Taiwanese businessmen operating in China and on the avoidance of double taxation, he said.
Foreign reporters covering the meeting said that Latin American nations did not dare not sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with Taiwan because of the “one China” principle and asked Lien if he discussed the matter with Hu.
Lien said the issue was complex and was not included in the meeting, adding that while the promotion of FTAs is important, the multilateral free trade system under the APEC framework is also crucial.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is