Taiwan yesterday fined a Cyprus-registered ship for sailing directly from China to Taiwan.
Hualien Harbor authorities fined the ship Flora NT$3 million (US$86,000) for violating Taiwan's ban on directly crossing the Taiwan Strait.
Captain Chalavazis Kyriakok, a Greek, said he did not know such a ban existed. The ship's local agent paid the fine.
The 31,643-tonne Flora left Zhanjiang Port in China's Guangxi Province on Sunday, and entered Hoping Port on the east coast Wednesday to load cement bound for Nigeria.
Hoping Port is a cement facility under the administration of Hualien Harbor.
Taiwan used to ban all contacts with China, but loosened the ban in the late 1980s when cross-strait ties began to improve.
In 1992, Taiwan enacted the Bill on Relationship between Peoples in Taiwan and the Mainland, allowing travel to and trade with China through a third country.
Under the bill, foreign ships can sail between Taiwan and China but must make a stop at a third country in line with Taipei's ban on direct shipping across the Taiwan Strait.
Many political watchers have forecast that in line with WTO rules, direct-trade links with China would be opened as soon as Taiwan formally becomes a member, which is expected Jan. 1 next year.
Speaking to reporters last month, just hours before signing Taiwan's accession documents at the WTO conference in Qatar, Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (
"The WTO mechanism has channels such as bilateral and multilateral talks to resolve trade issues and, if needed, the dispute settlement board," Lin said.
"To what extent this mechanism is used will depend on the will of the two governments to use the WTO channel," Lin said.
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