Representatives from Taiwan and Japan yesterday met at a Taipei forum to discuss what Taiwan can learn from Japan’s reconstruction efforts in the wake of last year’s massive earthquake and tsunami.
A total of 450 participants registered to attend the Taiwan-Japan Science and Technology Forum where local and Japanese experts were invited to speak on issues such as the challenges presented to industry as well as precautionary measures that have been unveiled since the catastrophe occurred, the event’s organizers, the Association of East Asian Relations, said.
Tsay Ching-yen (蔡清彥), director of the association’s Science and Technology Committee, said he hopes the exchanges can be turned into useful measures that can help improve bilateral cooperation.
“The impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami not only changed the lifestyle of Japanese people, but also prompted the world to reconsider issues such as production systems, energy safety and international collaboration,” he said.
Masao Uchibori, vice governor of Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, described the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant as being a Japanese technology failure.
The reconstruction of post-disaster Japan, however, is still reliant on new technologies, Uchibori said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
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Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard