Canada is working to strengthen its connections with Taiwan in the innovation sector this year and next, Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Jordan Reeves said on Tuesday.
“In terms of our plans for this office for this year and into 2021, number one is to launch our Year of Canadian-Taiwanese Innovators and to do everything we can with the existing tools we have to virtually make those connections between business and companies,” Reeves said in an interview with the Central News Agency ahead of Canada Day yesterday.
A launch event is scheduled for September in Tainan, home to both the Southern Taiwan Science Park and National Cheng Kung University, which has sister-school relationships with six Canadian universities, he said.
Photo: CNA
During an annual bilateral economic consultation at the end of last year in Canada, the idea was raised of helping companies from the two nations recognize the value each side has to offer, Reeves said.
Canadian companies have usually focused more on China’s market, while Taiwanese firms have looked to the US market for the past several decades, he said.
The two sides have now agreed to bring together Taiwan’s hardware sector and Canada’s software sector in an effort to seek major benefits for companies from both countries, since they complement each other as Taiwan is known for its hardware development while Canada is good in artificial intelligence and Internet of Things solutions, he said.
Although several projects and delegations were postponed or canceled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei has gone ahead virtually with as many as possible, Reeves said.
The office has facilitated virtual meetings between 24 Canadian technology firms and 120 Taiwanese companies, resulting in more than 65 follow-up meetings, he said.
Virtual workshops have been held between Canada’s National Research Council and Taiwan’s National Center for High Performance Computing and Academia Sinica, he said.
Taiwan is one of the five sites outside North America where Ottawa has established a Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA), with the others in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Delhi, Reeves said.
The CTA is the largest commercial project in Taiwan funded by Global Affairs Canada and seeks to facilitate cooperation between tech companies from the two nations, he said.
Canada supports Taiwan’s participation in international organizations and would continue to do so, he said.
“Many global issues do not respect political boundaries, issues such as COVID-19, climate change and aviation safety, and these all require a cooperative and inclusive approach for the greater global good,” he said. “I can tell you that Canada will continue to support Taiwan’s participation at the WHA [World Health Assembly] at the next scheduled meeting in November.”
He also hinted that Ottawa supports Taiwan’s joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS