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.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
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