The government would not approve the launch of any cross-strait aviation or maritime passenger services without first consulting national security officials and those in charge of the inspection and quarantine of agricultural products, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
The policy would be officially implemented before the end of this year after an amendment to the Regulations Governing the Approval and Administration of Direct Cross-Strait Sea Transport Between the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區海運直航許可管理辦法), the ministry said, adding that the change does not need approval from the Legislative Yuan.
Flight and maritime passenger carriers can currently launch cross-strait transportation services as long as they are reviewed and approved by the Maritime Port Bureau, the ministry said.
However, due to a severe outbreak of African swine fever in China, the ministry said that it has decided to scrutinize new cross-strait aviation and shipping to prevent the spread of contagious diseases.
In addition to safeguarding the nation from disease, the changes would ensure national security and improve coordination and cooperation between agencies, it said.
Once the policy is implemented, the ministry would seek the input of the Mainland Affairs Council, the National Security Bureau and the Council of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine before deciding on whether to approve any new service, it added.
“If these agencies are involved in the review of new flight and shipping services, they can prepare in advance for the possible outcomes,” the ministry said. “For example, the Council of Agriculture could project how many quarantine officers would be needed for inspections.”
The policy would also include the review of applications by maritime passenger carriers to continue offering services on shipping routes, the ministry said, adding that carriers would be allowed to offer services on a route for two years.
The nation has only three vessels plying direct cross-strait maritime passenger routes: the high-speed Natchan Rera (麗娜輪), Fujian Cross Strait Ferry Corp’s Haixiahao (海峽號) and the Cosco Star (中遠之星).
The Natchan Rera operates between Taipei and Pingtan in Fujian Province, while the Haixiahao provides shipping services to Pingtan from Taipei and Taichung.
The Cosco Star serves passengers traveling between Taichung or Keelung and China’s Xiamen and Taizhou.
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:
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
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
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