Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
In his speech titled, "The economic dynamics of Northeastern Asia" at the Asia Strategic Insight Round Table being held in the South Korean capital city, Ma said Taiwan is an important gateway to the huge market of mainland China and the best testing ground for information technology industries.
Ma said that in terms of regional integration in Northeastern Asia, all economic entities in the region, including mainland China, South Korea, Japan and Russia have cooperative relations with Taiwan.
Taking South Korea's digital content industry for example, he said South Korea will benefit the most if its companies cooperate with their counterparts from Taiwan to jointly crack the mainland Chinese market given that Taiwan and mainland China are inextricably close, including having the same language and culture.
For multinational businesses in Japan, Ma said, Taiwan can play a role as a bridge, linking buyers and sellers among Japan, Taiwan and China.
To Russia, which has a strong research base, Taiwan can offer its experience in marketing and expertise in merchandising of products, Ma said, adding that Taiwan is also a good testing ground for IT and other high-technology products.
He noted that Northeastern Asia is the most active and dynamic area in all economic blocks around the world and Taiwan, as part of the area, has maintained close connections with Japan, South Korea, China and Hong Kong, with about half of the island's trade conducted with these economies.
Meanwhile, Ma stressed that China is scheduled to be a member of the ASEAN Agreement in 2011 while Japan and South Korea will also follow suit. He said this kind of grouping will exert immense pressure on Taiwan, pointing out Taiwan will be marginalized if the situation is not properly handled.
Ma attended a closed-door luncheon hosted by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun at the Presidential Blue House Monday in honor of all participants at the round table.
After the luncheon, Ma lauded President Roh for creating the "Roh Moo-hyun experience" in South Korea, bringing the nation's overall development to a new horizon. He said that the South Korean experience is worthy of Taiwan's emulation.
Besides attending the luncheon, Ma also met with Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak later Monday afternoon and toured major infrastructure construction projects in the city, including a river clean-up project, as well as visit the city's youth service agency and Internet cafe management agency.
He will also visit Busan to meet with that city's mayor and visit the main stadium where the 2002 Asian Games were held.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS