The 16th round of negotiations with Japan over disputed fishing rights has been postponed yet again, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding only that the meeting would be held later this month in Taipei.
The ministry was mum on further details of the meeting, such as the names of the representatives.
“I will disclose the information when the time is right,” said Peter Tsai (蔡明耀), secretary-general of the Association of East Asian Relations at the ministry’s regular press briefing.
When asked why the ministry was keeping the information from the press, Tsai said: “A degree of non-transparency is sometimes necessary in diplomatic dealings.”
Tsai said last month that the meeting was scheduled for the middle of this month.
The sovereignty dispute over the Diaoyutais has long been a source of tension between Taiwan and Japan. The negotiations, however, focus on pragmatic issues such as access fees, common fisheries and maritime boundaries, the ministry said.
The government has dubbed this year “the year to bolster the special partnership with Japan.” Several programs, such as youth educational exchanges and allowing Taiwanese under 30 to have part-time summer jobs in Japan, are in the works.
Tsai said both sides are still mulling the details of the working holiday program.
Last week, Takeo Hiranuma, head of the Japan-Taiwan Dietmen’s Council told a press conference in Japan that the program was expected to start this summer.
When a reporter asked if bilateral military cooperation has cooled since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office last May, Tsai was evasive, saying only: “Things that don’t change will remain unchanged.”
In related news, the ministry will conduct a performance review of its representative office in Bangladesh before considering whether to shut it down, spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said in response to a local news report claiming the ministry was in the process of shutting the office because it has been under performing for the last five years.
Meanwhile, a recent report in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) said only four of the 70 Web sites created for overseas representative offices and embassies display the Republic of China flag — those for offices in the Vatican, Paraguay, Toronto and Tokyo.
Chen said the ministry was aware of the issue and the situation would be corrected in the “near future,” but refused to commit to a date or offer an explanation on the absence of the flag on the ministry’s official portals.
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