DIPLOMACY
EU mentions Taiwan
The European Parliament highlighted the need to engage with observers, including Taiwan, at the multilateral level in a resolution passed on Tuesday on the EU’s political relations with ASEAN. Representative to the EU and Belgium Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) on Wednesday expressed gratitude for the parliament’s mention and support of Taiwan. The resolution, which primarily serves to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of EU-ASEAN Dialogue Relations, highlights the importance of peace in the South China Sea.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
SEF-ARATS ‘cordial’
The Straits Exchange Foundation yesterday said that its communication with the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) remains cordial despite the lack of formal contact between the governments on the two sides. Foundation Deputy Secretary-General Luo Huai-jia (羅懷家) has had amicable telephone conversations with his counterpart at ARATS, foundation Chairman Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) told reporters at a news conference. There were no major communication issues between the two organizations, except that they are now limited to phone calls in the absence of any written communication, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council later yesterday said that all contact with its Chinese counterpart had been cut since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Investors urged to return
The SEF yesterday called on Taiwanese companies operating in China to think about bringing their investments back home. At a seminar for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople, Chairman Tien Hung-mao said that complementary businesses could be established on both sides of the Strait. Given that industries on both sides already have competitive, but cooperative ties, Tien said he hoped Taiwanese enterprises would seek ways to bring their investments home. China’s addiction to debt and its growing capital outflows are likely to create a property bubble and trigger a severe financial shock, he said. In such a situation, Taiwanese companies that are already encountering difficulties in the process of China’s industrial transformation would face even greater problems, Tien said. Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Katharine Chang (張小月) told the seminar that the government is working hard to address the shortages of water, electricity, land and labor, as well as taxation issues, which are seen as obstacles to Taiwanese businesses wanting to return from China.
DIPLOMACY
MOFA monitors Vatican ties
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said that Taiwan is an important political ally in the Holy See’s humanitarian and charitable work internationally and shares the same ideology on many issues. Taiwan and the Holy See both believe in freedom of religion and the promotion of peace, Department of European Affairs Director-General Anna Kao (高安) said in response to reporters’ questions about a recent comment by Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun (陳日君), bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, that the Vatican was likely to break ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing. Taiwan will follow any developments between China and the Holy See, she said. The Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday quoted Zen as saying the Catholic church in Taiwan and the government should be prepared for such a development, although it might be hard for them to accept.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the