Taiwan’s bid to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment bank (AIIB) has not yet been discussed by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), council spokesperson Wu Mei-hung (吳美紅) said yesterday.
Despite that, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday reiterated his wish that Taiwan be admitted to the nascent regional lender under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
At a regular news conference yesterday, Wu declined to comment on whether council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) would bring up issues related to the bank at his scheduled meeting with TAO Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), the date of which is not yet settled.
“It would depend on when the Hsia-Zhang meeting takes place,” Wu said.
Earlier yesterday, during an address to members of the Asia Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, Ma said that “Chinese Taipei” would be a designation for Taiwan in the AIIB that would be “most acceptable” to all parties.
Ma told foreign journalists based in Taiwan on Wednesday that there is a precedent of the use of “Chinese Taipei” for the nation to participate in the bank.
Taiwan participates in APEC under the name “Chinese Taipei,” which is also the short form of the name Taiwan uses at the WTO, of which it is a member, Ma said.
The president also cited remarks made by Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), who said the matter should be handled in accordance with “international practice” when asked what name Taiwan might use to join the bank.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) yesterday lashed out at Ma, saying that the president should not have put limits on what Taiwan could negotiate with China even before talks begin.
“Why did Ma surrender even before the war started?” Huang said.
Ma also spoke about reasons for the government’s decision to seek inclusion in the bank.
“We want to help countries with insufficient infrastructure,” he said. “Taking part in the AIIB will help achieve that goal.”
Participation in the bank will also give Taiwan more opportunities to join regional economic activities, as the nation seeks to join the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade blocs, he said.
Meanwhile, joining the AIIB would provide more business opportunities for Taiwanese construction companies, which would be able to bid for public infrastructure projects overseas, Ma said.
Taking part in the AIIB would benefit Taiwan, Ma said, adding that it would be conducive for the development of ties across the Taiwan Strait.
In response to questions on whether participation in the bank would affect Taiwan’s bid to join the US-led TPP, Ma said it would not.
The US has changed its attitude on the AIIB and has recently said that it welcomes the establishment of the development bank, Ma said.
On the issue of joining the TPP, the key factor is the openness of Taiwan’s domestic market, Ma said.
Becuase “the US has some expectations on the issue of pork and beef imports,” Ma said Taiwan has decided to open its doors to more US beef products.
He said that Taiwan allows imports of US pork and only bans imports of US pork containing traces of ractopamine, a feed additive banned in Taiwan.
“We will continue to make our stance clear to the US,” Ma said, urging the US not to let the issue become a hindrance to advancing ties between the two nations.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not