Macau formally opened a representative office in Taipei yesterday, giving the special administrative region a greater presence here that it expects will deepen trade, tourism, cultural and education ties with Taiwan.
Alexis Tam Chon Weng (譚俊榮), chief of cabinet of the Office of the Chief Executive in Macau, said at the inauguration ceremony that the opening of the Macau Economic and Cultural Office was more than just “a joyous occasion for people from Macau and Taiwan.”
“It is also an important milestone in the development of closer, mutually beneficial and peaceful relations between the two sides,” Tam said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
He said the representative office will promote economic, cultural, travel, education, sports and health cooperation between Macau and Taiwan and provide services for Macanese working, studying, living or traveling in Taiwan.
The office will also help Macanese in Taiwan cope with emergencies and will cooperate with Taiwanese authorities in cracking down on crime, Tam said.
The Macau and Hong Kong special administrative regions have been preparing for the opening of offices in Taiwan since December last year because of their growing exchanges with the nation.
The Macau office will be headed by Nadia Leong (梁潔芝), while John Leung (梁志仁) is due to become director of the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office when it opens tomorrow.
Leong, Macau’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Zhang Yu (張裕) and representatives from Macau’s education, culture and travel sectors were among those attending the opening ceremony.
Yen Chung-kuang (嚴重光), director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Department under the Mainland Affairs Council, said there are currently more than 4,300 students from Macau in Taiwan, the most of any overseas contingent, and around 60,000 Macanese visited Taiwan last year.
He said the figures reflect the close relationship between the two, and noted that Taiwan hopes to strengthen cooperation with Macau on air travel, crimefighting and cultural and creative industries.
Officials said the Macau office, which will be located in the Taipei 101 building, will have a staff of between 10 and 15 people.
Though people from Hong Kong and Macau have visited and done business in Taiwan for years, they have not had official presences here because of tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS