The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said the torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympics can only pass through this country if Taiwan takes part as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member rather than as a province of China.
If Beijing insists on Taiwan being considered an internal Chinese route, the Taiwanese people will not accept such a move, a Central News Agency (CNA) report quoted MAC Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (
Otherwise, he said, China's insistence that the torch pass through Taiwan as an "internal route" will make the entire event a big piece of political propaganda by the Chinese authorities.
He was responding to a report by the United Daily News yesterday quoting Jiang Xiaoyu (
Jiang made the statement on Wednesday during a meeting in Beijing with Guo Tai-qiang (郭台強), chairman of the Board for Commercial Industrial Development.
According to the report, Jiang encouraged Taiwanese businesses to explore the commercial opportunities of the Beijing Olympics. He invited Taiwanese companies to help with the building of Beijing's Olympic facilities, especially the provision of high-tech equipment.
Liu also downplayed Guo Tai-qiang's suggestion that the Chinese authorities set up a "Taiwanese businessman's court" by having Chinese legal experts who are familiar with both the investment regulations for Taiwanese enterprises as well as Taiwanese commercial operations act as judges.
He said the idea might not solve the legal problems that Taiwanese businesspeople face in China, because the problems stem from the Chinese judicial system itself.
"The problem is not whether setting up a different court for Taiwanese could better protect Taiwanese businesses' legal interests. Rather, it's about that country's overall judicial standards. If the general quality of their [China's] trials are poor, I don't think the idea would work well," CNA quoted Liu as saying.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
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