Taiwan is looking to learn more about international efforts to ban landmines and the possibility of joining the Mine Ban Treaty, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
A total of 161 countries are parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, which was signed in 1997 in Ottawa and came into force in 1999, aiming to prohibit the development, production, use, storage and transfer of antipersonnel landmines.
Taiwan has secured a chance to have five young people attend the Third Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Maputo, Mozambique, from June 23 to June 27 by joining the delegation of the Canada-based Mines Action Canada, a coalition of Canadian non-governmental organizations, said Ray Mou (牟華瑋), director-general of the ministry’s Department of NGO International Affairs.
“Although we are not a party to the Mine Ban Treaty, we hope to learn more about the organization and engage more deeply with global efforts to eradicate antipersonnel mines through their [the students’] participation this year,” Mou said.
The treaty was initiated by NGOs, international organizations, UN agencies and governments, with a review conference being convened at five-year intervals by the UN secretary-general.
The ministry, in conjunction with Eden Social Welfare Foundation, is set to select five young people to join the Mines Action Canada delegation in attending this year’s conference, Mou said.
Before heading to the conference, the five representatives will participate in a two-month-long online capacity-building training sessions organized by the Mines Action Canada Youth Leaders’ Forum on issues related to the prohibition of antipersonnel mines, reduction in military forces and other human rights issues, he 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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
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