The establishment of the Taiwan-UK Parliamentary Communication Association is an indication of the strong friendship between the two countries, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday on the inauguration of the group.
“The UK is one of Taiwan’s most important friends in Europe. Not only is it our third largest trading partner in the area, it is also the most popular education destination in Europe for Taiwanese students,” Wang said.
As of last year, Taiwan’s exports to Britain stood at US$3.6 billion while it imported US$1.9 billion in British goods.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrew Hsia (夏立言), a Cambridge graduate, said that when he was a student in the UK back in the 1970s, there were less than 200 Taiwanese students in the country.
“At that time, bilateral relations were very weak. Students had to wait nervously for months before obtaining a visa. Now there are more than 15,000 Taiwanese students studying in the UK at any given time,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Hsin-yuan (賴幸媛) and Taichung Mayor and former foreign minister Jason Hu (胡志強), obtained degrees in Britain.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said the association could support Taiwan’s diplomatic work with the UK by bolstering links between lawmakers.
Taiwan, he said, has much to learn from “one of the first modern governments to employ a multi-party democratic system.”
British Trade and Cultural Office Director Michael Reilly said he hoped the British-Taiwan All Party Parliamentary Group and the new association would spur more efforts in tackling shared challenges such as global warming and infectious diseases.
“Just over two years ago, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in our House of Commons published an extensive report on the UK’s relations with China and Taiwan. In its conclusion, it stressed that the growth in the development of democracy in Taiwan is of great importance and it recommended that the British Government increase its contacts with Taiwan at a political level … particularly to increase the links between its elected representatives and those of the UK,” he said.
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
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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