Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said yesterday it was wrong for the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to describe the importation of two giant pandas from China as a “domestic trade.”
CITES Secretary Juan Carlos Vasquez said on Monday that in accordance with UN policy, the transporting of the two pandas to Taiwan would be a matter of “internal or domestic trade” and as such did not need to be reported to CITES.
Lai yesterday said she could not dictate what CITES says about the matter, but that it was not correct to say that the importation of the two animals was domestic.
“Besides, [the pandas] must go through customs. Why would they need to do that if it were a domestic trade?” she said.
Lai said the legal documents concerning the export and import of the animals were based on CITES regulations and international practice.
Precedents had been set by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration when endangered herbs were imported from China.
Asked whether Taiwan would file a complaint with CITES over the matter, Lai said clearing things up should not be a problem. However, Taiwan is not a UN member and it was beyond the country’s power to tell the organization what to do, she said.
Straits Exchange Foundation Deputy Chairman Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) on Tuesday said the animals never had anything to do with CITES.
Kao said that during negotiations with China, both sides reached a consensus that they would follow the precedent set by the DPP administration in 2002 and 2003. In other words, the import had to comply with Chinese regulations on the export and import of endangered flora and fauna, he said.
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday announced a ban on all current and former government officials from traveling to China to attend a military parade on Sept. 3, which Beijing is to hold to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. "This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Republic of China’s victory in the War of Resistance [Against Japan]," MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a regular news briefing in Taipei. To prevent Beijing from using the Sept. 3 military parade and related events for "united
‘OFFSHORE OPERATIONS’: Also in Dallas, Texas, the Ministry of Economic Affairs inaugurated its third Taiwan Trade and Investment Center to foster closer cooperation The 2025 Taiwan Expo USA opened on Thursday in Dallas, Texas, featuring 150 Taiwanese companies showcasing their latest technologies in the fields of drones, smart manufacturing and healthcare. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the event’s organizer, said the exhibitors this year include Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn), the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer; AUO; PC brand Asustek Computer; and drone maker Thunder Tiger. In his opening speech, TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) said he expected Texas to become a world-class center for innovation and manufacturing as US technology companies from Silicon Valley and Taiwanese manufacturers form an industrial cluster
A 20-year-old man yesterday evening was electrocuted and fell to his death after he climbed a seven-story-high electricity tower to photograph the sunset, causing a wildfire on Datong Mountain (大同山) in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林), the Taoyuan Police Department said today. The man, surnamed Hsieh (謝), was accompanied on an evening walk by a 20-year-old woman surnamed Shang (尚) who remained on the ground and witnessed the incident, capturing a final photograph of her friend sitting atop the tower before his death, an initial investigation showed. Shang then sought higher ground to call for help, police said. The New Taipei
RSS