Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) yesterday said the council has authorized the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) to negotiate with China on nuclear safety.
If both sides come to an agreement, the issue would be placed on the agenda of the next high-level cross-strait talks between SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), this year, she said.
“We will do our best to put the issue of nuclear safety on the agenda of the upcoming Chiang-Chen meeting,” she told the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee. “China’s Taiwan Affairs Office [TAO] has responded positively to our proposal.”
TAO spokeswoman Fan Liqing (范麗青) said yesterday in Beijing that China attached great importance to nuclear safety, which she said concerned the wellbeing of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Exchange channels for nuclear safety and technology have been smooth, she said, adding that the two sides could propose ideas or “discuss and communicate” with each other if they think it is necessary.
During the upcoming Chiang-Chen meeting, the two sides have agreed to negotiate two issues on the protection of investment and dispute settlement. If all goes well, they hope to sign agreements on these two areas, she said.
In the aftermath of Japan’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, which sparked a radiation leak at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said on Tuesday that nuclear safety would become an important issue in future cross-strait negotiations after he expressed the hope last week that Taipei and Beijing could cooperate in this area.
Lai yesterday said that the Ma administration would take a pro-active approach to achieve these goals, given the importance and urgency of nuclear safety across the Taiwan Strait.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
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