The Cabinet-level Council of Cultural Affairs yesterday named five historical and natural sites in Taiwan for nomination as UN World Heritage sites.
At a year-end press conference, the chairwoman of the CCA, Tchen Yu-chiou (
"The council will set up an operations committee in March to manage the application schedule, as well as oversee the maintenance and preservation of the potential world heritage sites," Tchen said yesterday.
The council also revealed an evaluation report by international world heritage inspectors, including Yukio Nishimura, the vice chairman of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), one of the agencies responsible for recommending potential sites to the UN World Heritage Committee.
The CCA last year invited academics from around the world, as well as local governments and communities to participate in the selection of potential world heritage sites in Taiwan with universal historical, cultural or natural qualities.
Twelve sites have been identified, seven of which require conservation work in order to meet World Heritage criteria.
Citing the international inspectors' report, Tchen said the natural resources at Toroko Gorge and Yu Shan are well preserved under the protection of their "National Park" designation, making them priority choices for nomination as World Heritage sites.
Chilanshan Forest in Ilan County houses the only remaining giant Taiwan hinoki cypress trees, an ancient cypress type that currently only exists in North America and East Asia.
The false cypress forest, planted by the Council of Agriculture's forestry bureau, at Chilanshan is the only botanical site among the 12 locations.
The report highlights the Alishan Mountain Railway's importance to forestry development and economic and industrial development in Taiwan.
The Peinan Culture Site in eastern Taitung County houses a large number of ancient and prehistoric artifacts dating from between 2,000 and 5,000 years ago.
It is the largest prehistoric burial site in the Pacific Rim area, and the only archaeological site in Taiwan recommended for a World Heritage listing.
The additional seven sites include: Yangmingshan National Park; the Penghu Archipelago for its basalt formations; the Old Mountain Railway in Miaoli County; the island of Kinmen; the historic foreign customs houses and trading depots in Tamsui; Orchid Island and the old mining township of Chinkuashih (金瓜石) in Taipei County.
The procedure for having a site named as a World Heritage site can take up to five years and involves applications to the ICOMOS and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
The ICOMOS and IUCN then issue recommendations to the UN World Heritage Committee, the decision-making body.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan
RSS