China’s military drills that disrupted air traffic around Taiwan last month is one of the reasons for the nation to be included in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), government officials said yesterday.
The ICAO is to hold its triennial assembly from Tuesday next week to Oct. 7 at its Montreal headquarters, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary-General Lily Hsu (徐儷文) told a news conference in Taipei.
The organization’s 193 member states, as well as a large number of international organizations, have been invited to attend, but Taiwan has yet to receive an invitation, Hsu said.
As this year’s assembly is themed “Reconnecting the World,” Hsu called on the ICAO to practice professional neutrality by inviting Taiwan to the gathering.
In this way, the organization can achieve its objectives of making global air transport safe, efficient and economic, instead of denying Taiwan access due to political reasons, Hsu added.
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Director-General Lin Kuo-shian (林國顯) said Taiwan is one of the busiest air transport hubs in the region.
The Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) provided navigation services to more than 1.85 million flights and saw the number of air travelers arriving, departing or transiting reach 72 million in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Lin said.
Technical, professional and pragmatic considerations mean that Taiwan urgently needs to establish direct communication with the ICAO, and obtain the latest rules and regulations so that it can ensure the safety of air passengers and cargo, he said.
The importance of including Taiwan in the ICAO became evident when China launched unprecedented live-fire military drills in six maritime zones around Taiwan last month, Lin said.
From Aug. 4 to 7, the Chinese military conducted naval and aerial exercises, and fired multiple ballistic missiles into waters near Taiwan, following a visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei.
As the drills were announced at a short notice, hundreds of flights near Taiwan had to be canceled or rerouted, Lin said.
As Taiwan lacks direct communication channels with the ICAO, the nation’s aviation authorities could only contact Japanese and Philippine FIRs to reroute flights, he said.
Lin said he has written a letter to the ICAO Council president expressing the nation’s desire to join the upcoming assembly, but has received no response.
CAA Deputy Director-General Lin Jiunn-liang (林俊良) is to lead a delegation to Montreal to attend a number of side events to be held by Taiwan’s representative office in Canada to promote Taiwan’s inclusion in the ICAO, he added.
Lin Jiunn-liang is scheduled to meet officials from friendly countries and diplomatic allies to discuss aviation safety issues, he said.
Taiwan previously attended the assembly in 2013 as a guest of the ICAO Council president, the first time that the nation’s representatives had attended the gathering in 42 years, due to warming cross-strait relations under the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
However, it was not invited to the gatherings in 2016 and 2019 after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party took office.
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had
Taiwanese who have recently traveled to China for tourism, to visit friends or relatives or for business reasons have been interrogated, detained and faced other forms of unreasonable treatment from Chinese officials, a source said on Sunday. Among them was a Taiwanese who was detained for eight hours at an airport in China due to their research, which is related to religion, while others have had their travel documents for China canceled for a number of reasons, the source said. In July, China expanded the scope of its counterespionage law, and recently announced a draft amendment to the law on the protection
RSS