AGRICULTURE
Taiwan seeks CSF-free tag
Taiwan has applied for recognition as a classical swine fever (CSF)-free country after ending pig vaccinations against the disease for a year, the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said. Taiwan applied to the World Organisation for Animal Health on Friday, it said, adding that the nation has been free of CSF for one year as of July 1, following the ending of vaccination against CSF. If Taiwan successfully gains the recognition in May next year, it would be the only country in Asia to be officially declared CSF-free, the ministry said. Taiwan is also the only Asian country free of African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, it said. The status would lower the cost of raising pigs and enhance the nation’s competitiveness in international markets, it added. Taiwan began implementing a phased approach to end administering CSF vaccines last year. All vaccinations ceased on July 1 last year.
DIPLOMACY
Taiwan-Japan talks to begin
The sixth edition of talks on maritime affairs between officials from Taiwan and Japan would be held this week in Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. The Maritime Affairs Cooperation Dialogue is scheduled to be held in Taipei tomorrow, the ministry said. The talks would touch on a range of issues concerning Taiwan and Japan, in particular cooperation on maritime safety, science, energy development, fisheries and environmental protection, it said. Led by Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), the Taiwanese side is to include officials from the Ocean Affairs Council, the Coast Guard Administration, the National Academy of Marine Research and the Fisheries Agency, among others, it said. The Japanese delegation would be headed by Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi. The dialogue was initiated in the wake of a fisheries dispute in waters near Japan-controlled Okinotori Atoll in 2016. In April of that year, Japanese authorities detained a Taiwanese fishing vessel near the atoll, which they consider to be an island and therefore entitled to a 200 nautical mile (370.4km) exclusive economic zone. This action was protested by Taiwan. They held their first meeting six months later, with each side agreeing to take turns hosting future gatherings.
TOURISM
Forest railway to resume
The Alishan Forest Railway is to resume mainline services on Saturday, following disruption caused by Typhoon Gaemi last month, the Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office said on Friday. The office suspended mainline and branch-line services on July 23 as a precautionary measure due to the approaching Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall in northeastern Taiwan at about midnight the following day. Services on the branch lines on Alishan in Chiayi County were brought back on July 29. However, services on the mainline were disrupted by fallen trees, bamboo and rocks at 116 locations, the office said. The railway itself sustained no significant damage, it added. Work to restore the services is expected to be completed on Wednesday, followed by two days of test runs, before the services resume on Saturday, it said. Launched in 1912 for the logging business, the Alishan Forest Railway was only fully reopened on July 6, after 15 years of work repairing damage sustained during Typhoon Morakot in 2009 and the 2015 typhoon season. Booking for the resumed mainline services would be opened online through the office’s Web site at 6am tomorrow.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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