DIPLOMACY
France visa talks under way
Taiwan and France are moving closer to a bilateral agreement that would implement a reciprocal working holiday program for young adults, a source familiar with diplomatic affairs said. The two nations have been discussing the program for many years and it might come to fruition in the near future, the sources said. The two nations view the development as “good news,” the source said. During the discussions, France developed a certain level of trust in Taiwan based on a perception of sincerity, the source said. Four Cabinet officials — including Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Chih-chung (吳志中) — have studied in France, the source said. French Office in Taipei Director Benoit Guidee had said previously that if the two sides signed a working holiday agreement, the initial quota would be about 500 annually.
EDUCATION
Mongolia MOU signed
Taipei National University of the Arts and the Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Ulan Bator to foster bilateral cooperation in cultural and arts education. Taipei university president Yang Chyi-wen (楊其文) and Mongolian university rector Sonintogos Erdenetsogt signed the MOU on behalf of their respective schools at a ceremony that was also attended by Representative to Mongolia Huang Kuo-jung (黃國榮). The two schools are to jointly organize forums on education, carry out programs on experimental education, engage in faculty and student exchanges and host joint exhibitions of the arts, a statement issued by the Taipei Trade and Economic Representative Office in Ulan Bator said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
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