The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said its chairman is still planning to visit China, despite misgivings about cross-strait exchanges after Beijing on Thursday announced the re-establishment of diplomatic ties with the Gambia.
Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) is scheduled to make a 10-day visit to China early next month, the semi-official body set up to handle exchanges in the absence of official ties said.
Lin’s itinerary was on Wednesday sent to the SEF’s Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), the foundation said, adding that it has yet to receive a response from the association, but there should be no changes.
Lin is scheduled to travel to Xiamen, China, and take part in activities involving Taiwanese businesspeople there, while the ARATS is expected to send officials to accompany Lin based on past practice, the SEF said.
Whether there are to be changes on the part of China remains to be seen, but Lin’s visit is still being planned, it added.
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) said in the legislature on Friday that China alerted the council about its re-establishment of diplomatic ties with the Gambia early on Thursday, but he was unable to connect with his counterpart, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), through a hotline set up by the two sides not long ago.
However, Hsia said that except for the hotline, all other channels of communication are open.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Gambia issued a joint statement on Thursday, saying that they had re-established official relations after 21 years.
The Gambia had diplomatic ties with Taiwan until 1974, when it switched to Beijing.
In 1995, the African nation severed diplomatic relations with China and switched back to Taiwan, but in November 2013 it unilaterally decided to again break diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The country then sought to re-establish formal ties with Beijing, but was rejected until recently.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS