The government would address issues caused by China’s coercion of airlines to list Taiwan as a province of China at a suitable time and venue, and not at the International Aviation Safety Summit in Taipei next year, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said on Thursday.
China in April sent letters to global airlines requesting that they list Taiwan as province of China.
The US government has dismissed China’s move as “Orwellian nonsense.”
Of the 44 airlines that were contacted, 18 have chosen to comply. The remaining airlines have asked for more time to comply due to technical reasons.
Beijing early last month also told the International Air Transport Association that its members should all recognize Taiwan as belonging to China.
China’s increasingly aggressive attempts to dwarf Taiwan’s sovereignty was the focus of a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee yesterday, which was scheduled to review an amendment to the Mass Rapid Transit Act (大眾捷運法).
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) asked Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) how the government plans to respond to China’s continuous animosity.
China has repeatedly stepped on our bottom line, Lin said
As Taiwan is to host the International Aviation Safety Summit in Taipei next year, the government should discuss this matter, as well as safety issues caused by China’s unilateral launch of the northbound M503 aviation route in January, he said.
Taiwan should not censor itself regarding issues that could be discussed at the summit, Lin said, adding that the government should toughen up.
The summit’s topics would mainly concern safety issues related to aircraft maintenance, as well as the landing and departure of airplanes, Wang said, adding that problems between China and Taiwan might not be listed as part of the summit’s agenda.
Taiwan would host and attend the summit under the name “Chinese Taipei,” the same name used to join APEC and other international organizations, Wang said.
“We will show the world Taiwan’s efforts to enhance aviation safety, which is a universal value. Politics must play no part in safeguarding aviation safety. We will make such statements at the appropriate time and venue,” Wang said.
The ministry said the summit is an important platform for people seeking to understand the latest trends in the aviation industry, with the topics set to be discussed next year ranging from aviation safety, personnel training, management strategies and practical solutions to crucial matters facing the industry.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS