Amid speculation that talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) between Taiwan and Singapore might restart soon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday refused to comment on whether there was any progress in resuming negotiations.
Asked to comment on reports that Singapore and Taiwan will reopen discussions on an FTA soon, Weber Shih (施文斌), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Economic and Trade Affairs, told a regular press briefing that strengthening economic cooperation with member countries of the ASEAN has always been one of the main tasks of the government.
“The Free Trade Agreement [FTA] is of course one of our major tasks. However, we cannot give details on any particular case,” Shih said.
Reports said prospects seemed to have brightened that the city-state might be more willing to negotiate with Taiwan on a free trade deal after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which favors closer trade ties with China and easing cross-strait tensions, won a decisive victory in the March 22 presidential election.
In his meeting with international media after his election victory, president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he would push to revive talks for an FTA with Singapore, based on the “WTO formula,” meaning using Taiwan’s name in the WTO — “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.”
This name was used by Taiwan to join the WTO in 2002.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement recently that “FTAs with customs territories such as Taiwan are permissible under WTO rules,” according to a report by the Straits Times.
The city-state, however, set preconditions to an FTA deal, such as that issues involving trade should not be politicized.
Shih said he believed that building up a full-scale economic trade partnership with countries in the Southeast Asian region would be the priority of the incoming government.
According to an unofficial account, the free trade discussions between Taiwan and Singapore, which started in 2000, stagnated after President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) government insisted on signing the FTA using the name “Taiwan” or its official title the “Republic of China.”
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
RSS