Taiwan and Japan signed an aviation agreement yesterday to promote exchanges on aviation safety and cooperation in the investigation of airline accidents, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced.
Chen Horng-chi (陳鴻基), chairman of MOFA’s Association of East Asian Relations (AEAR), and Ikeda Tadashi, chief representative of the Taipei Interchange Association (ICA), Japan’s representative office in Taiwan, yesterday formally signed the pact, called the “AEAR and ICA Agreement on Aviation Safety.”
“Taiwan and Japan will cooperate on investigations into any aviation incident or major accident, share professional information on aviation safety and hold workshops on aviation safety,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry added that the agreement will “gradually establish a cooperation framework between Taiwan and Japan on aviation safety, a step forward to guaranteeing bilateral flight safety.”
Japanese tourists made some 1.16 million visits to Taiwan last year, the most of any foreign country, while Taiwanese in return made 1.38 million visits to Japan.
The latest air disaster involving the two countries came when a China Airlines Boeing 737-800 caught fire on Aug. 21 last year moments after landing in Okinawa. All 165 passengers and crew miraculously escaped just minutes before the plane burst into a fireball.
The cause of the accident is still being investigated by Japanese aviation authorities, but preliminary investigations have pointed to a loose bolt piercing a fuel tank.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
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