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.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
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