Representatives from Taiwan, Thailand and the US attending the APEC Senior Officials Meeting yesterday jointly proposed a health task force be established under the regional economic body.
"In view of the SARS outbreak earlier this spring, the idea of establishing a health task force was jointly proposed by representatives from Taiwan, Thailand and the US in a bid to fight against SARS and other infectious diseases," Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) said at a press conference at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok, where the APEC meetings are being held.
PHOTO: AFP
SARS killed more than 800 people worldwide and infected some 8,400. According to the World Health Organization, SARS claimed 37 lives in Taiwan and there were 346 suspected cases in the country.
Yin said the idea of a task force was welcomed by other representatives and the proposal would be moved to a higher level for further assessment.
"The proposal needs to go through certain procedures before substantial measures are drawn up such as how the international protocol would be implemented and which APEC members would participate," Yin said.
During the press conference, Yin and Huang Tien-mu (
Yin said that Chile, the host of next year's APEC summit, had expressed its eagerness for Taiwan to participate in the meetings next year.
"Chile told us that one of the things next year's APEC meeting will focus on is small business -- something in which it believes Taiwan has much experience and a subject on which Taiwan can share and contribute," Yin said.
Huang said that both Taiwan and Thailand had agreed to strengthen cooperation on fighting cross border smuggling.
Yin added that a brief greeting was exchanged between Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (
When asked about the host country's treatment of Taiwan, Yin said that Thailand has so far treated Taiwan with fairness.
"[The treatment] has been fair so far. We are satisfied," he said.
Against a backdrop of security threats, the Thai government stepped up security measures to ensure the safety of participants in the APEC meeting as well as that of the hordes of journalists present for the event.
The security measures included requiring members of the foreign media traveling to Bangkok to apply for a special visa instead of the usual tourist visa.
In a bid to prevent terrorists from using trash cans as a place to hide weapons or bombs, 19 streets in the area around the summit venue had their garbage cans removed.
In addition to deploying 20,000 troops and police to guard the APEC meetings, the Thai authorities had also chased approximately 10,000 beggars, homeless people and prostitutes off the streets in a bid to give the city a clean and pleasant appearance.
Government agencies, state-owned corporations and schools were granted special holidays from today to Wednesday to minimize traffic jams during the meetings.
Also See Story:
Critics question usefulness of APEC summit
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS