Taiwan has the right to participate in international organizations as a sovereign nation and Beijing’s interference is unacceptable, pan-green lawmakers said yesterday in response to Beijing’s opposition to Taiwan’s efforts to seek participation in the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Yang Yi (楊毅) said on Wednesday that Beijing opposed “foreign interferences that would complicate matters,” referring to the US Senate and House of Representatives’ introduction of bills earlier this month in support observer status for Taiwan at the ICAO.
Despite saying that a “reasonable arrangement” could be made regarding Taiwan’s international participation, China has never stopped squeezing Taiwan’s international space, Democratic Progressive Party China Affairs Department Director Honigmann Hong (洪財隆) said.
Citing recent examples, Hong said Beijing demanded that the Vatican sever its diplomatic ties with Taiwan and forced the withdrawal of a Taiwanese delegation from a regional security forum in Indonesia last week.
Beijing also protested to Japan over its preferential treatment for Taiwan during a memorial ceremony on the second anniversary of the East Japan earthquake, he said.
Hong said that Beijing’s hawkishness showed that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) advocacy of a “diplomatic truce” across the Taiwan Strait was merely wishful thinking and that cross-strait exchanges under China’s framework of containment do not serve Taiwan’s long-term interests.
“China has never changed its two-handed strategy with regard to Taiwan. It has tried to win over Taiwanese by providing economic incentives while curbing Taiwan’s international presence at the same time,” Hong said.
In addition, TSU Legislator Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲) accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council of malfeasance for keeping mum on Beijing’s interference.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
INTEL: China’s ships are mapping strategic ocean floors, including near Guam, which could aid undersea cable targeting and have military applications, a report said China’s oceanographic survey and research ships are collecting data in the Indo-Pacific region — possibly to aid submarine navigation, detect or map undersea cables, and lay naval mines — activities that could have military applications in a conflict with Taiwan or the US, a New York Times report said. The article, titled “China Surveys Seabeds Where Naval Rivals May One Day Clash,” was written by Chris Buckley and published on Thursday. Starboard Maritime Intelligence data revealed that Chinese research ships last year repeatedly scanned the ocean floor east of Taiwan’s maritime border, and about 400km east and west of Guam; “waters that
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