A group of legislators departed for Canada on Monday evening in a bid to gain support for Taiwan’s application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Taiwan officially applied to join the CPTPP on Sept. 22 last year, after which a parliamentary friendship group was established to advocate for the bid.
The group has so far sent four letters to leaders and officials of the CPTPP’s member states, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍), President of the Peruvian Congress Maricarmen Alva, as well as the speakers of the Canadian Houses of Parliament.
While the legislature is in recess, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉), who heads the group, is making the trip with DPP legislators Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) and Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱).
They plan to return on Wednesday next week.
Chiu told reporters that although no legislators have visited Canada in recent years, “now is a good time, as Canada is getting closer to Taiwan,” while its relationship with China is tense.
At the invitation of Shen Jung-chin (沈榮欽), an associate professor at the School of Administrative Studies at York University, Canada, they are to discuss the CPTPP and a foreign investment promotion and protection arrangement (FIPA) during the trip, he said.
Taiwan and Canada began “exploratory discussions” on signing a FIPA to enhance two-way investment and economic relations in January, he said, adding that the arrangement can be “the bridge that leads to the CPTPP.”
The three are also to visit Canadian members of parliament from several parties, including Taiwan’s long-standing supporters Michael Cooper and Judy Sgro, chair of the Canada Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, he said.
They plan to discuss ways to promote Taiwan’s bid to join the CPTPP with Taiwanese individuals and business groups in Canada, as well as meet Jeffrey Reeves, vice president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, he added.
Meanwhile, DPP legislators Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文), Mark Ho (何志偉), Michelle Lin (林楚茵), Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸) and Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) are to visit Japan from Thursday next week to Aug. 10.
They are to pay their respects to former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated during a campaign speech earlier this month, and to discuss Taiwan’s application to join the CPTPP with Japanese lawmakers.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS