A new committee set up under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not required extra resources, ministry spokesman Michel Lu (
Answering questions from the media at the Legislative Yuan, Lu said that the Committee on Japanese Affairs was formed as an ad hoc group and hadn't cost the foreign ministry any extra money or required it to employ any extra personnel.
Responding to an accusation by an opposition legislator that the foreign ministry had established the committee as a "black box organization" -- or lacking transparency -- Lu said that the committee is designed to better address relations with Japan.
Legislator Sun Ta-chian (孫大千), a deputy convener of the People First Party legislative caucus, said that the foreign ministry "illegally" established the committee to "help the Democratic Progressive Party secure political gains in Japan and eventually promote Taiwan's independence."
Sun also threatened to cut the ministry's budget if officials failed to give more details on the committee's establishment and functions.
Lu said that as bilateral exchanges between Taiwan and Japan have increased, the existing Association of East Asian Relations -- a quasi-official Taiwanese organization established to handle exchanges with Japan after the two countries severed formal diplomatic relations in 1972 -- has had difficulties handling related affairs.
The committee, headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (
The bulk of the committee's personnel will come from the ministry. The staff of the economic affairs section will be solicited from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Foreign affairs ministry officials said the committee will improve the government's efficiency in managing relations with Japan.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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