Five relatives of the nine Chinese victims of doomed CAL flight CI611 arrived in Taiwan yesterday evening, with another 30 expected to arrive today, Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐), Secretary-General of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF, 海基會) told reporters during a news briefing yesterday.
Shi said that that no Chinese officials would accompany the relatives to Taiwan.
Shi said that staff from the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Taiwan chapter of the Red Cross Society would accompany the group to Penghu.
Some family members and relatives of Chinese victims from the southeastern province of Fujian, the province nearest Taiwan, expressed their wish to come to Taiwan via the sea route between the Chinese port city of Xiamen and Taiwan's outlying island of Kinmen.
The MAC's Director of Information and liaison Chen Chung-hong (陳崇弘) said yesterday, "We have to discuss the matter at an internal meeting, but we will certainly do whatever we can to assist the relatives of Chinese victims."
Similarly, asked whether the bodies of the Chinese victims could be returned to China via the sea route, Shi said that that the SEF would have to discuss the matter with the MAC but that, "we will do our best to assist."
Meanwhile, a Chinese fishing vessel sailing in the western portion of the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning found the body of a man. The body was handed over to Taiwanese rescuers.
The SEF sent a letter yesterday to its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS, 海協會) to thank China for its help.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
"I am deeply concerned over the heavy loss of life and property from a China Airlines crash. Compatriots across the Strait are our brethren," state television quoted Jiang as saying.
"I express my profound condolences to victims from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the mainland and other victims and extend my sincere sympathy to relatives of victims" Jiang said.
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
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