President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is paying close attention to the situation on the Korean Peninsula and has instructed the National Security Council (NSC) to be fully prepared for any outcome, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
Under Ma’s instruction, NSC Secretary-General Jason Yuan (袁健生) held a meeting yesterday afternoon with top officials including Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) and Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂), in response to the escalating tension between North and South Korea.
The president has closely been watching the situation and the government will be prepared to handle any development, Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) said, adding that Ma called on East Asian nations to jointly maintain peace and prosperity in the area and resolve disputes in a rational manner.
Tension in the Korean Peninsula showed no signs of easing, after North Korea warned of dire repercussions over UN sanctions and US military drills with South Korea.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement last night urged North Korea to exert self-restraint and to seek dialogue to resolve the issues about which Pyongyang is concerned.
The ministry has contingency plans for any scenario in the Korean Peninsula, and has established emergency task forces in its Taipei office and in the Taipei Mission in Korea to monitor the situation and adjust its plans, it said.
Taiwanese are advised not to travel to North Korea at present, but the ministry did not plan to raise its travel alert level for South Korea and Japan, as travel alert levels for South Korea and Japan in the US, Japan and Australia have stayed the same, the ministry said.
The ministry maintains its “gray” travel alert for South Korea and Japan — the lowest on the ministry’s four-color scale — which advises caution.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
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