The heart of the issue regarding direct transportation links is China's unwillingness to negotiate with Taiwan, not Taiwan's limitations on itself, the chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said over the weekend.
Hu Sheng-cheng (
Bhatia said that during his recent visit to Taipei, he had heard a great deal about Taiwan imposing restrictions on itself, such as limits on cross-strait trade, and that these limits had made the country less attractive to US companies.
Hu said that given the political relations between Taiwan and China, if the two sides entered into negotiations, it would take a long time.
"Moreover, China does not want to talk right now," Hu said.
The council has repeatedly explained this to all foreign businesses in Taiwan, including US businesses, in the hope that the issue will not affect their impression of Taiwan and investment here, Hu said.
Hu also said that during Bhatia's visit in late May, he conveyed his points to the Executive Yuan.
The administrative team fully understood US companies' concerns regarding direct transportation links to facilitate exchanges between the people on the two sides, Hu said.
Noting that Bhatia said that his recent visit was to engage in dialogue under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and to help address impediments in Taiwan-US relations, Hu said the TIFA was only one stage and that Taiwan was more concerned about signing a free-trade agreement with the US.
The TIFA was established between the US and Taiwan in 1994 to resolve bilateral trade disputes and enhance economic cooperation in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
RSS