The National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday that the specifications of mobile satellite communications cars provided by China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) would have to obtain certification from the commission before they can be used in Taiwan.
China Mobile Ltd chairman Wang Jianzhou (王建宙) said the company was prepared to lend 10 mobile satellite communication cars to telecom carriers in Taiwan to facilitate communication in areas devastated by Typhoon Morakot. The cars are stored at Xiamen Port and may only enter Taiwan after obtaining government approval.
Liang Wen-hsing (梁溫馨), an NCC specialist, said Far EasTone (遠傳電信) was also applying to have three such cars imported. Neither Chunghwa Telecom (中華電) nor Taiwan Mobile has submitted applications to import the cars.
“By law, the commission must certify specifications of controlled telecommunications radio frequency devices imported from abroad,” Liang said, adding that using China-made mobile satellite communications cars should not raise any national security concerns.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-tsang (陳正倉) said that Far EasTone must also obtain a permit from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Foreign Trade before the cars can be imported.
“The commission will not issue any comment on the donor [of the cars], nor will it comment on the recipient,” Chen said. “We are mainly responsible for accelerating the administrative process so that the equipment can reach disaster areas quickly.”
Meanwhile, Wang met Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday. Wu thanked Wang for making donations to Taiwan in the wake of Morakot.
Wu was the only political figure Wang has met so far in his 10-day visit. Since arriving in Taiwan on Friday, Wang has visited HTC Corp (宏達電) and the Hsinchu Science Park.
Wang donated 10 million yuan (US$1.46 million) for rescue and relief work in Taiwan. He said he was impressed by Taiwan’s rescue and relief efforts, which reminded him and many Chinese of the situation in the wake of the Sichuan earthquake last year and how Taiwanese offered assistance in the rescue and relief work.
“I hope our cooperation with local businesses in Taiwan will create a win-win situation for both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
Wu expressed gratitude for Wang and China’s assistance and said the sincerity from China would help improve the cross-strait relations.
“Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and I agree that the two sides cannot stop natural disasters, but we can use our wisdom and capabilities to stop war across the Taiwan Strait,” Wang said.
At a separate setting yesterday, MediaTek Inc (聯發科), Taiwan’s biggest handset chipmaker, said it intends to form a partnership with China Mobile to supply handset chips supporting China’s 3G and 4G technologies.
The announcement came after Wang met MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介) and discussed China’s 3G, or time-division synchronous code division multiple acces and 4G, or TD-LTE, technologies.
In related news, the Taiwan Aboriginal Association for Multitribal Cultural Exchange said in a statement yesterday it had decided to “distribute funds for flooding victims on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’s Taiwan Affairs Office” within a month. The fund referred to the 20 million yuan flood relief donation Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) accepted from China last week.
The association was established by political allies of Chin, who is half Atayal and was elected on an Aboriginal ballot.
Chin is believed to be the de facto leader of the group. It has also created a special commission, in which Chin, her political allies and office aide are members, to handle the distribution of the money.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) yesterday said he hoped the money would be distributed to typhoon victims in a fair and appropriate manner.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LISA WANG, LOA IOK-SIN AND KO SHU-LING
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
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