President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday pledged to strengthen ties with Russia, saying he expected Moscow to grant Taiwanese visa-free travel and start direct flight services among economic and cultural exchanges.
The improvement in cross-strait relations and Taiwan’s signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China last month prompted great opportunities for more exchanges between Taiwan and other Asian countries as cross-strait relations were no longer an issue, Ma said.
OPPORTUNITY
“Many Asian countries are excited about the ECFA as they see the opportunity to strengthen economic ties with Taiwan as well,” Ma said when meeting with Vasily Do Brovolskiy, Russia’s top representative to Taiwan, at the Presidential Office.
“We expect to push for more development in economic and cultural exchanges with Russia at this historic point, starting with reciprocal visa waivers and direct air links,” he said.
The president lauded Russia’s rich natural resources and its achievements with its economy. He said the nation’s trade with Russia decreased to US$2.7 billion from US$3.6 billion in 2008 because of global financial crisis and that there were only 20 Taiwanese businessmen in Russia.
AMPLE ROOM
“There is ample room for Taiwan and Russia to increase trade and investment,” Ma said.
On educational exchanges, there are about 120 Taiwanese students studying in Russia, while 250 Russian students are pursuing their education in Taiwan, Ma said.
The president said first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) visited Russia last month as honorary director of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and he expected more performing arts groups from the two sides to visit each other and increase cultural exchanges.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
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