President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expressed confidence in relations with Singapore under his administration and said he expected Taiwan to sign a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Singapore.
In an interview with two Singapore newspapers, the Straits Times and the Chinese-language Lianhe Zaobao, on Friday, Ma urged Singapore to resume talks on an FTA, suggesting Taiwan sign an FTA with Singapore under the name it uses at the WTO, “The Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.”
Singapore is Taiwan’s sixth-largest trade partner and bilateral trade between the two countries is about US$16 billion per year, Ma said, yet FTA talks stopped about five years ago.
“Taiwan hopes to continue its past efforts and sign an FTA with Singapore,” he was quoted as saying in the interview, which was published by the two papers yesterday.
On Taiwan’s obtaining observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) this year, Ma said the country would try to make contributions in the health and medical fields at the WHA.
The country has no immediate plans to apply for membership at any other international organizations, he said.
Ma said cross-strait relations had allowed Taiwan to participate in the WHA and his administration would continue seeking closer ties with China under the principle of “economy first.”
“I think our strategy of maintaining peaceful relations with mainland China is obviously a successful one,” he said.
Ma said cross-strait talks would address economic issues before moving on to political issues, and the government is focusing current efforts on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
The two sides of the Taiwan Strait may continue to put off political issues, Ma said, addressing them in 2012 if he is re-elected.
In response to criticism by the Democratic Progressive Party, Ma said the nine agreements reached in three rounds of negotiations with China had been disclosed to the public and had not damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Asked whether Taiwan would follow the example of Singapore by setting up a bureau to investigate corruption, Ma said the willpower of a country’s leader was more important.
“Singapore is doing a good job [in fighting corruption] because the government takes it seriously ... The willpower of the leader is key to anti-corruption work,” Ma said.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS