Several government agencies are discussing a plan to enhance ties with Europe in several fields and would unveil it soon, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday.
Department of European Affairs Director-General Remus Chen (陳立國) did not name any of the agencies other than the MOFA.
The plan aims to further enhance already robust economic, education, scientific research and supply chain ties between Taiwan and Europe, he said.
Photo: CNA
Chen was addressing President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) pledge to “soon put forward a plan to strengthen our ties with Europe, and promote deeper exchanges between Taiwan and European countries” in her New Year’s Day address on Saturday.
No details of the plan were provided by Tsai, and Chen, who offered few other details of his own, would only say that more information would be provided by the agencies involved.
However, an unnamed official from the National Development Council told the Central News Agency on Saturday that the project is being handled by the council, the MOFA, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Education.
The council proposed it to the president to serve as a long-term, all-inclusive plan to enhance Taiwan’s ties with Europe, made more urgent by the reshaping of supply chains because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
The program’s main function would be to coordinate research from different government agencies to conduct “systematic and comprehensive exchanges” on economic, trade and diplomatic fronts with businesses and people in Europe, the official said.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS