China yesterday declined Taiwan’s offer of assistance in the wake of a deadly earthquake that struck a mountainous area of Qinghai Province killing more than 600 people, saying sufficient rescue resources were in place to deal with the situation.
The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said in a statement that the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) had thanked Taiwan for its concern and support, but indicated that such assistance was not necessary at this time. As rescue work has already started, ARATS said it would contact the SEF immediately should the situation change.
The country’s 23-member search and rescue team was ready to set out for Qinghai within four hours had China agreed.
The SEF said it had sent the letter to its Chinese counterpart on Wednesday to express concern and inquire whether any rescue personnel were needed.
Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said yesterday that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) telephoned Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) as soon as he learned of the quake.
In addition to expressing his condolences to the victims, Lo said Ma asked the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and other related agencies to get an understanding of the situation and convey the administration’s desire to help.
Jiang told reporters yesterday at the legislature that the National Fire Agency designates one county or city responsible for offering international rescue assistance each month and this month it was Hsinchu County.
“As far as I know, they have a 23-member rescue team on standby that could be dispatched within four hours of receiving the order,” he said.
The Associated Press news agency reported from the provincial capital, Xining, yesterday that the road to the remote disaster zone of 70,000 people had been blocked by a landslide.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Friends of Tibet (TFOT) chairwoman Chow Mei-li (周美里) yesterday urged the Chinese government to quickly allow international rescue teams into the ethnically Tibetan area.
“Rescuing survivors in the area isn’t easy because the region is not well connected to the outside and is very difficult to reach — this is exactly the reason why we urge the Chinese government to allow as many experienced rescue teams as possible from other countries, including Taiwan, into the area,” Chow told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Ngawang Woeber, chairman of the Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet, a group of former political prisoners in Tibet, said the Chinese government only cares about exploiting natural resources in Qinghai’s Tibetan region, including Yushu — known to the Tibetans as Kyegudo — without considering the negative impact, especially when an earthquake hits.
“We call on the Chinese government to stop all development projects that may threaten human lives in these regions,” Ngawang said.
Residents in quake-affected areas are worried that a nearby dam may collapse as a result of the earthquake, Chow said, adding that as many as 14 dams have been either completed or are under construction in the area, posing a threat not only to the lives of the locals, but also to the region’s scarce water resources.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS