Taiwan and Indonesia signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Taipei on Tuesday to jointly develop the small island of Morotai in North Maluku Province, Representative to Indonesia Andrew Hsia (夏立言) said yesterday.
According to the memorandum, the two countries will establish a steering committee to plan and execute the project, the size and make-up of which remains to be determined, Hsia said during a press conference.
The project would be modeled after the establishment of the special economic zone with Singapore in Batam in Indonesia’s Riau Islands Province in the 1990s, the representative said.
The Indonesian government will undertake infrastructure construction and provide Taiwanese businesspeople with various incentives to help them develop the island, which is rich in history, as well as fishery, marine, and tourism resources, the diplomate said.
After various field trips to the island by Taiwanese officials, the governments of Indonesia and Taiwan agreed that the island has a high potential for forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as eco-tourism, and could also serve as a base for Taiwanese fishermen to go deep-sea fishing, the representative said.
Hsia said the project will not require Taiwanese government funds, but the government-affiliated International Cooperation and Development Fund will encourage local businesses to invest in the project and provide assistance.
Morotai has a population of 50,000 and an area of about 2,400km2, about the size of New Taipei City (新北市).
Hsia said Morotai has seen its population increase to about 70,000 after the idea to develop it jointly with Taiwan was proposed by Jakarta two years ago.
The Indonesian government has been encouraging migration to the island and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently announced that Morotai would be designated a special economic zone, Hsia said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS