A German member of the European Parliament expressed explicit opposition on Tuesday to Beijing's plans to enact an "anti-secession" law targeting Taiwan.
Georg Jazembowski said he will initiate a resolution at the parliament soon to give the EU lawmakers an opportunity to try to prevent enactment of the proposed law.
Jazembowski said the European Parliament should, via a resolution, tell the Chinese categorically that what the two sides of the Taiwan Strait need is politicial dialogue, instead of weapons aimed at each other.
Jazembowski made the remarks during a teleconference on Tuesday, during which President Chen Shui-bian (
During the video-conference, Chen called on the EU not to lift its ban on arms sales to China, saying that the possible lifting of the embargo has been a cause of serious concern to the US and Japan because both countries understand it would tilt the military balance across the Taiwan Strait.
Chen also urged the EU member states to realize China's attempts to unilaterally change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait by enacting an anti-secession law designed to prevent Taiwan from pursuing its own political identity.
Jazembowski, who has visited Taiwan in the past and who referred to Chen as "my dear friend" during the teleconference, claimed that the proposed anti-secession law is a "political weapon" aimed at Taiwan.
Jazembowski added that he has been pushing for the EU to pay closer attention to the security situations in the Asia-Pacific region, including some "sensitive" issues involving North Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
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