President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday expounded on his administration’s achievements in promoting peace across the Taiwan Strait and called for peace and cooperation in East Asia amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
“Over the years, the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula have been considered two flashpoints in East Asia. The Korean Peninsula is now under escalating military tensions, while the Taiwan Strait has become an avenue of peace and prosperity, under peaceful and stable cross-strait relations,” he said in a meeting with a delegation from the US National Bureau of Asian Research, a non-profit institution that focuses on policy in the Asia-Pacific region.
North Korea on Monday announced it was withdrawing all workers and suspending operations at a joint industrial zone with South Korea, and said it would launch a missile today.
Ma yesterday detailed his administration’s efforts to improve cross-strait relations and reduce tensionsin the past five years. He also discussed his proposal last year of an East China Sea peace initiative, which aims to resolve disputes between Taiwan, China and Japan over sovereignty issues regarding the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) by calling for joint development of resources in the area while putting aside territorial disputes.
He also said he expected that Taiwan and the US would strengthen their economic and trade relations, as the two nations are preparing for talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.
On the other hand, he said, Taiwan and China would continue to negotiate follow-up issues under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, amid concerns about the Ma administration possibly moving from economic cross-strait cooperation to political negotiations in the near future.
In an interview with the Chinese-language United Daily News on Monday, Ma dismissed such concerns and insisted that political negotiations are “unnecessary” at the moment. He reiterated that the government would address easier cross-strait issues and develop economic relations with China before entering into political dialogue.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final