Taiwan is to donate five red cypress logs to assist Japan with rebuilding Shuri Castle in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
At least seven buildings, including the main structure at the World Heritage Site burned down, likely due to an electrical fault, in October 2019.
Japan asked about the possibility of Taiwan donating timber from its plantations, as the original castle was built with Taiwanese cypress, the ministry said in a news release.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Taiwan has long banned logging in natural forest areas, the ministry said, adding that its plantations are managed by the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency.
The conservation agency regularly thins the forest to maintain an ecological balance, and the thinned timber is stored in lumber yards, the ministry said.
The government has agreed to donate five of the red cypress logs that were thinned in 2020 to Japan, in compliance with regulations governing exports of forest products, the ministry said.
In 2020, Taiwan’s plantations produced 256.98m3 of red cypress, and the five logs donated to Japan would total about 3.86m3, it added.
The donation would not affect the market for Taiwanese red cypress or environmental protection efforts, the ministry added.
The Taiwan-Japan Relations Association and the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association would sign a donation agreement, after which Japan would apply to the agency for a document of approval to export the timber and complete the customs declaration process, it said.
In December 2019, the government donated ￥3.5 million (US$24,519) and the Ryukyu Overseas Chinese Association based in Okinawa donated ￥2 million to help rebuild Shuri Castle, it said.
When Taiwan was battling its worst COVID-19 outbreak during the pandemic, Japan donated 4.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the nation, the ministry said.
Taiwan’s donation of cypress timber demonstrates the profound friendship between Taiwan and Japan, it said.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS