Two former prime ministers of Japan and Estonia are to address the annual Indo-Pacific security forum when it opens in Taipei tomorrow, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The keynote speeches are to be delivered by Taro Aso, a senior member of the Japanese Diet who served as prime minister from 2008 to 2009, and Andrus Ansip, a member of the European Parliament and former prime minister of Estonia from 2014 to 2019, the ministry said in a news release.
The one-day Ketagalan Forum, organized by think tanks along with the government, is to focus on regional and global security issues, with current and former officials, academics and experts from various countries discussing traditional and nontraditional threats and challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, it said.
This year’s forum is divided into three panels focused on the challenges in cross-strait and global security, the effects of information warfare on democracy and Taiwan’s role in the reconstruction of the international supply chain, the ministry said.
The guests are to include Japanese lawmaker Keisuke Suzuki and former US diplomat Daniel Russel, who specialized in East Asian affairs and is now vice president for international security and diplomacy at the US-based Asia Society Policy Institute.
In total, 14 lawmakers, former government officials and academics from 12 countries are to attend the forum, including Lithuanian lawmaker Vilius Semeska; Admiral Karambir Singh, former Indian Chief of Naval Staff and current chairman of the India-based think tank National Maritime Foundation; and Isaac Ben-Israel, an Israeli military scientist who founded Tel-Aviv University’s Yuval Ne’eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security.
The Ketagalan Forum: Asia Pacific Security Dialogue is being held fully in person this year for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started three years ago.
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
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
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
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