Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) yesterday met with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) in Taipei, and said he looked forward to working closely with him.
It was the first time the two men had met, with both addressing each other with their official titles; Chen referring to Wang as “Minister Wang.”
Chen and his delegation arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday for the 10th round of cross-strait negotiations. He and Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) yesterday signed agreements on meteorological and seismic data sharing.
“The signings will make a great contribution to improving people’s safety across the Taiwan Strait, and we expect to continue promoting cross-strait relations under the 1992 consensus,” Wang said during the meeting.
Citing his earlier meeting with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), in the Chinese city of Nanjing, Wang said that the communication channel between the MAC and TAO will not affect that of the SEF and the ARATS. The extra channel is complementary, rather than adversarial he added.
Chen agreed that the consensuses reached during the Wang-Zhang meeting would have a positive influence on development across the Taiwan Strait.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
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