Taiwan should seek to address its economic challenges following the conclusion of free-trade talks between China and South Korea yesterday, the Presidential Office said in Taipei.
The Presidential Office said the development between the regional players was expected after more than two years of trade talks.
Given that South Korea’s trade structure is very similar to Taiwan’s, the Presidential Office said the nation must work to catch up with its main regional trade competitor and be better prepared for regional economic integration.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ought to be held responsible for Taiwan being outpaced by South Korea.
Chen said that after Taiwan and China signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in 2010, it was to be followed with the signing and implementation of the long-stalled cross-strait service trade pact.
While Taiwan signed the service trade agreement with China in June last year, the legislature — in response to growing public demands for more transparency in the negotiation of cross-strait pacts — has decided to review the deal before ratifying it, Chen said.
Saying the pact has been stalled since April, Chen added: “The DPP is the main culprit for delaying Taiwan’s economic development.”
Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) panned President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, saying it thought only of integrating more of Taiwan’s economy with China’s, while failing to improve the competitiveness of domestic industries.
“It is an incorrect comparison to use the China-South Korea free-trade deal to promote the cross-strait service trade agreement,” he said.
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
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘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)