Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said yesterday that Taiwan and the US were discussing the possibility of including Taiwan in a US visa waiver program, but he gave no specific timetable.
Yang made the remarks after attending the international seminar “Taipei-Washington-Beijing Relations under the Ma and Obama Administrations,” which was held in Taipei by the Foundation on Asia-Pacific Peace Studies and the Pacific Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a US think tank.
“Both Taiwan and the US understand the importance of the visa waiver program, which is already under discussion by the two sides. However, I cannot give you a certain timetable,” Yang said.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Earlier at the forum, Yang said there were five facets of the new face of US-Taiwan relations.
They include working on the inclusion of Taiwan in the US visa waiver program, enhancement of bilateral security cooperation, economic ties and investment ties, and US support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and International Civil Aviation Organization, Yang said.
It would be of mutual benefit to both Taipei and Washington to expand cooperation on issues of export control and weapons proliferation because the two sides have worked effectively together on the implementation of the container security initiative.
This entails a system of checking for illegal goods in shipping containers that leave Kaohsiung Port, he said.
At the forum, new American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director William Stanton complimented Taiwan’s progress in recent years and said with the Taiwan Relations Act as the basis of Taiwan-US relations, the US would remain a “dependable” friend and not waver from its commitment to Taiwan’s security, assuaging doubts of Washington’s intention to sell arms to Taiwan.
He said that because talks on US beef imports were coming to the final stage, Trade and Investment Framework Agreement talks could be held before the end of the year.
The US government and the US business community in Taiwan, he said, welcome improved cross-strait ties, which has increased Taiwan’s appeal to foreign investors.
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