Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe might visit Taiwan next year, which the private sector highly anticipates and the government welcomes, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday.
Tien made the remarks in answering questions from legislators at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文), chairman of a parliamentary friendship association for East Asia, on Tuesday said that Abe had accepted the association’s invitation to give a lecture at the Legislative Yuan next year.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
In September, Abe — Japan’s longest-serving prime minister — stepped down due to health issues and was replaced by Yoshihide Suga.
Asked by other lawmakers to confirm Abe’s visit, Tien said that the government is positive about the plan and welcomes it, even though it has not received formal notice from Abe.
“We know the private sector is very much looking forward to it [Abe’s visit]. The government is also happy to see it happen,” Tien said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞) asked if Abe’s visit might bring some “good news,” such as inviting Taiwan to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
A visit by Abe would mark a great improvement of bilateral relations, but Taiwan’s bid to join the trade bloc needs the consensus of all of the member states, Tien said.
Asked if Taiwan’s lifting of a ban on food imports from five Japanese prefectures after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster would be a prerequisite for joining the trade bloc, Tien said that the government would ensure food safety, and follow international and scientific standards in handling the issue.
Wen and KMT Legislator Charles Chen (陳以信) asked why Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) returned to Taiwan when Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on Nov. 24 and 25 visited Tokyo and expressed Beijing’s intention to join the CPTPP.
Taking days off, Hsieh returned to Taiwan to attend two important meetings: a board meeting of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association and a meeting of the Association of Taiwan Kotso Tai Rit Interchange, Tien said.
Hsieh’s attendance at the meetings was an “indirect” effort to facilitate Taiwan’s participation in the CPTPP, Tien said.
Hsieh might have fixed his itinerary before Wang confirmed his schedule, Tien said, rejecting KMT lawmakers’ accusations that the envoy was derelict in his duties.
Other diplomatic staff in Japan monitored Wang’s visit during Hsieh’s absence, Tien said, while agreeing to submit a report to lawmakers on Hsieh’s performance.
Hsieh wrote on Facebook on Sunday that he had returned to Tokyo on that day.
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
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS