Chinese President Hu Jin-tao (胡錦濤) said yesterday that China would “seriously study” the possibility of helping Taiwan participate in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) “in an appropriate way.”
Hu made the remark in a meeting with former Taiwanese vice president Lien Chan (連戰) on the sidelines of the leaders’ meeting of the APEC forum, in response to issues of Taiwan’s international participation.
Despite its vague wording, it was by far the most explicit expression of Beijing’s stance on Taiwan’s ICAO bid since Taipei began pushing the issue in 2009.
At a news conference held after the meeting, Lien described Hu’s remark as a goodwill gesture from Beijing that marks the beginning of a new opportunity because it “opens the doors” for Taiwan’s ICAO bid.
However, he said that the goal is “not immediately accessible” and added that Taiwan will make sure it becomes a responsible participant and would work toward participation step by step in accordance with ICAO requirements.
In 2008, Taiwan was able to attend the World Health Assembly — the decisionmaking arm of the WHO — and has been able to attend as an observer since May 2009.
Asked about the possibility of Taiwan gaining WHO membership and accession to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Lien said he had not been authorized to discuss those issues with Hu.
It is the fifth time that Lien is attending the APEC summit on behalf of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who cannot be allowed to attend in person due to China’s objections.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
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