China and Iran have withdrawn their contribution to monitoring nuclear tests, apparently in protest at Washington's hostility towards the comprehensive test ban treaty, raising the fear that the treaty may collapse before it has come into operation.
Both have stopped sending seismic data to the nascent Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna.
The treaty will only come into force when it has been ratified by the 44 states believed to be capable of building nuclear weapons. So far it has been ratified by 31.
The Bill Clinton administration signed the treaty, but three years later the US Senate refused to ratify it, and the George W. Bush White House has openly opposed it, hinting that it may end the moratorium on testing which has been in effect since 1992.
In its nuclear posture review, leaked last month, it ordered work to begin on developing a new generation of low-yield tactical nuclear weapons such as "bunker-busters," which would require testing before being used.
Diplomats in Washington said US opposition to the treaty was a major barrier to gathering the international support required to bring it to life and argued that the reduced cooperation of China and Iran could be signs of a backlash which could eventually kill it.
Iran has completed work its monitoring stations, among 337 around the world intended to send a stream of data to the CTBTO, allowing it to spot a nuclear test anywhere on earth. But the Iranian parliament has stopped the stations sending data until the treaty enters into force.
China has yet to complete testing its monitoring stations and has cut off a direct flow of data from other seismic stations, sending the information on computer diskette in a diplomatic pouch.
Beijing protested last week that the US nuclear posture review had "openly stated that nuclear weapons would be used" in the event of military conflict in the Taiwan Strait and breached an agreement on "mutual non-targeting of their nuclear weapons."
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)