The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that Taiwan and Japan are still negotiating on the date for a second meeting in preparation for a new round of bilateral talks on fishing rights near the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台).
Su Chii-cherng (蘇啟誠), deputy director-general of the ministry’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the two countries are still negotiating over the date and agenda of the second preparatory meeting, adding that they hope the meeting will close a gap opened by the previous meeting.
Wire reports said tension in the disputed island chain in the East China Sea — which Japan calls the Senkakus — could be escalating after Chinese military planes recently approached an area north of the islands and flew inside Japan’s air defense identification zone, prompting Japan to scramble fighter jets in the area.
In response to the matter, Su said Tokyo intends to continue fishery talks with Taiwan and he forecast that the talks will not be affected by the tensions between China and Japan.
Taiwan and Japan held their first preparatory meeting in late November last year in Tokyo in an effort to restart a new round of formal fisheries talks, which would be the 17th round since 1996.
The two countries made little progress at the meeting last year, but said they would continue to negotiate with sincerity and goodwill so that a second preparatory meeting can be convened.
The uninhabited island chain, which lies about 100 nautical miles (185km) northeast of Taiwan, is said to sit atop valuable mineral resources is surrounded by rich fishing grounds.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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