Southeast Asian countries put the finishing touches yesterday on a landmark charter that will create an agency to review the region's human rights -- though it contains no powers to punish notorious violators like Myanmar.
The regional constitution will be signed by ASEAN leaders at their annual summit today, after foreign ministers yesterday approved the draft that took more than two years to seal.
"The high point of the summit will be the signing of the ASEAN Charter," Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo (
Myanmar, one of the 10 members of ASEAN, was pleased with the charter despite calls for a human rights arm that could focus on abuses by its junta, Myanmar's senior diplomat U Aung Bwa said.
"We have a very good charter. I think everybody should be happy. It's quite balanced," U Aung Bwa said in an interview, adding he did not believe Myanmar's internal problems should be the subject of intense scrutiny at the four-day summit.
The long-overdue ASEAN charter is aimed at formally turning the 40-year-old organization -- often derided as a powerless talk shop -- into a rules-based legal entity. That means ASEAN can sue and be sued, and will be held accountable for all the treaties and agreements it signs.
The charter still needs to be ratified by parliaments of member countries.
"It's a good move to give substance to ASEAN after 40 years of our existence. It will change from an informal body, a loose organization, into one with a legal perspective," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
One of the most significant pledges in the charter is to set up a regional human rights body. Critics note that it will have limited impact, given that it will not be able to punish governments that violate human rights of their citizens.
"I'm not sure if it will have teeth but it will certainly have a tongue," Yeo said, referring to the agency's right to admonish and criticize violators. "It will certainly have moral influence if nothing else. But these are details for the future."
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS