DIPLOMACY
Slovakia scheme lifts off
The government signed a memorandum of understanding with a Slovakian delegation on Tuesday that will pave the way for a bilateral working holiday program to begin in June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The program will allow up to 100 young adults aged 18 to 35 from each country to visit and work in the other country every year for up to one year, the ministry said. Slovakia is the sixth European country and the 11th nation to have inked a working-holiday agreement with Taiwan. A working holiday program is meant to offer young adults an opportunity to travel abroad to experience a different culture and expand their horizons, while allowing them to work to earn their living costs, the ministry said.
DIPLOMACY
US APEC official to visit
US Senior Official for APEC Robert Wang is to begin a five-day visit tomorrow to discuss bilateral economic cooperation, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday. Wang is to participate in an APEC Business Advisory Council meeting in Taipei and meet with local officials and business leaders to discuss APEC-related issues, and bilateral trade and investment cooperation, the AIT said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wang is scheduled to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and call on officials at the foreign affairs and economic affairs ministries, as well as the National Development Council. Issues to be discussed include the trend toward regional economic integration and the prospects for economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, the ministry said. Wang took up his post in August last year and visited Taipei the following month, the ministry said.
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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