Taiwan will establish a task force under the nation's representative office in Thailand to provide help to the people of Myanmar in striving for democracy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Pro-democracy activists in Myanmar last month staged protests against the junta, which reacted by launching a violent crackdown.
The ministry said in a press release that one of the task force's main functions would be to observe the political situation in Myanmar.
It will also work to share the nation's experiences in democratization with pro-democracy activists in Myanmar and cooperate with other foreign organizations to advocate a more open and democratic society.
The task force is also commissioned to join efforts to promote regional stability, safety and prosperity, the release said.
Taiwan has no representative office in Myanmar, with which it maintains no diplomatic relations.
In related news, Vice President Annette Lu (
The DPU consists of 33 democratic countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Lu said that 14 video statements had been uploaded to the Web site by representatives of DPU member countries and more than 20,000 people in Taiwan had signed a petition in the last week to express their support for the people of Myanmar.
She made the remarks at a press conference held to introduce 19 visiting fellows invited by the DPU from Latin America, Asia and Australia.
One of the visiting fellows, Terrance Kennedy Mills, a member of the legislative assembly of Australia's Northern Territories, echoed the DPU's stance on the Myanmar issue, saying that Australia had an obligation to speak out for those who have no voice.
"We represent different countries, and we have different languages, but we have one thing in common, and that is the love for freedom," he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai