Taiwan and Australia yesterday signed a scientific and technological cooperation agreement, the National Science and Technology Council said.
Representative to Australia Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) and Australian Representative in Taiwan Robert Fergusson signed the Science and Technology Arrangement in Canberra after six months of discussions and planning, the council said.
Council Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) proposed the partnership when visiting senior officials at the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) in October last year, it said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The DISR and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials witnessed the signing, while representatives from the council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Australian Office, Taipei, participated online, the council said.
The agreement consists of 22 research cooperation and talent exchange programs, focusing on four main areas: manufacturing information and communications technology, semiconductor and critical technology supply chain resilience, biotechnology, and the net zero transition, it said.
The arrangement is an upgrade from a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Taipei and Canberra signed in 2012, which demonstrated the importance both parties attach to bilateral cooperation in scientific research, Hsu said.
Under the agreement, the two sides would expand cooperation with the aim of further contributing to international society, he said.
DISR General Manager Richard Samuels said he hoped that the deal would help bolster relations between Taiwan and Australia through concrete actions, the council said.
Australia is the fifth country to sign such an agreement with Taiwan, following the US, Germany, France and Canada, it said.
Taiwan has made concrete progress under the deals, including holding the first Science and Technology Cooperation Dialogue with the US in May last year and a scientific research conference with France last month, the council said.
Taiwan and Germany are cooperating in many fields, such as semiconductors and lithium batteries, it said, adding that the two sides are scheduled to hold high-level talks in Germany later this year to review the outcomes of the arrangement.
Separately, Taiwan and Australia last month signed an MOU on transport safety and information exchanges, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia said.
The two sides have long been cooperating on aviation safety, with the Aviation Safety Committee signing a similar MOU with the Australian Bureau of Air Safety Investigation in 1998, Hsu said.
The updated MOU expands the scope of cooperation from civil aviation to include maritime and railway transportation safety, including accident investigation, safety research and technical training, he said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to