■FISHING
No approval required
The fishing industry agreement Taiwan and China seek to sign next month does not need to be reviewed by the legislature because it does not involve legal revision of the cross-strait statute, Mainland Affairs Council Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said yesterday. Because President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has pledged not to further open the local market to Chinese workers, Lai said the agreement did not have anything to do with allowing more Chinese workers to enter Taiwan. Chinese fishermen have been allowed to work on deep-sea fishing boats since 1993 and to stay at temporary shelters on land since 2004. There are now about 10,000 Chinese fishermen working on deep-sea fishing boats and between 4,500 and 5,000 on inshore fishing boats. The number of fishermen from other foreign countries is about 4,700. While the next round of cross-strait high-level talks are set to take place in Taichung City next month, the two sides will address four issues: fishing industry cooperation, quality checks of agricultural products, cross-strait cooperation in inspection and certification and avoiding double taxation.
■EDUCATION
Hakka exam to pay off
In an effort to promote the Hakka language, the Council for Hakka Affairs (CHA) said that the government would offer grants for junior high school and elementary students who pass a Hakka examination. The results of this year’s exam, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, will be announced on Jan. 15 and those who pass the exam will be eligible for the grants, Minister of Hakka Affairs Huang Yu-cheng (黃玉振) said. Only elementary and junior high school students are eligible for the awards, Huang said. Anyone passing the elementary level test will receive NT$1,000, while NT$5,000 and NT$10,000 will be given to those who pass the intermediate and upper-intermediate level tests respectively.
■DIPLOMACY
New trade offices planned
Taiwan plans to set up trade offices in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, which may signal a breakthrough in the country’s bid to participate in ASEAN, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) said yesterday. At least one of the offices will be established by the end of the year, said Chou, who serves as a convener of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee. Chou said the country had difficulty setting up trade offices in these three countries in the past because of China’s obstruction. However, he said that because cross-strait relations have improved significantly over the past year, ASEAN members are now more willing to develop economic and trade relations. This shows that it is not impossible for the country to be included in ASEAN in the future, he said.
■AGRICULTURE
COA to buy oranges
The Council of Agriculture (COA) will purchase oranges from farmers for domestic use and expand exports to China as part of efforts to stabilize prices in anticipation of an oversupply in the December and January harvest season, officials said yesterday. Orange production is estimated to total 210,000 tonnes this year, said Hsu Han-ching (許漢卿), chief secretary of the COA’s Agriculture and Food Agency. The council will purchase 20,000 tonnes of the fruit, half of which will be used to make juice for schoolchildren, while the other half will be put into cold storage, he said. Meanwhile, the country will export 1,870 tonnes of oranges to China by the end of the year, up from 1,250 tonnes last year.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
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