Despite improved ties between Taiwan and China, Taiwan-Japan relations remain important to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday.
Wang made the remark during a meeting at the legislature with a delegation of Taiwanese living in Japan.
He also said that he would lead a delegation of more than 20 legislators to Japan early next month at the invitation of former Japanese foreign minister Taro Aso.
CHINA TIES
Japanese officials are said to be concerned at the implications of Taiwan’s warming ties with China in regard to Taiwan-Japan relations.
Hoping to ease concerns, Wang assured his guests that Taiwan would reinforce ties with Japan and the US at the same time as it seeks to step up relations with China.
Earlier in the day, during a meeting with the same group at Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) promised that he would visit Japan more often to bolster bilateral ties.
CEMENTING LINKS
The KMT must cement links with Japan’s ruling and opposition parties to boost cooperation and mend the gap created by a lack of mutual understanding and contacts, said Wang, assuring the group that “President Ma is not ‘anti-Japan.’”
He said this view was a misunderstanding caused by an absence of frequent contact between the KMT and the Japanese.
Members of the group said that many in Japan are skeptical about Ma’s stance toward the country because he failed to mention Japan in his May 20 inaugural address and played an active role in Taiwan’s campaign in the 1970s to claim sovereignty over the disputed Diaoyutai islands (釣魚台).
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai
RSS