AGRICULTURE
Taiwan seeks CSF-free tag
Taiwan has applied for recognition as a classical swine fever (CSF)-free country after ending pig vaccinations against the disease for a year, the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said. Taiwan applied to the World Organisation for Animal Health on Friday, it said, adding that the nation has been free of CSF for one year as of July 1, following the ending of vaccination against CSF. If Taiwan successfully gains the recognition in May next year, it would be the only country in Asia to be officially declared CSF-free, the ministry said. Taiwan is also the only Asian country free of African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, it said. The status would lower the cost of raising pigs and enhance the nation’s competitiveness in international markets, it added. Taiwan began implementing a phased approach to end administering CSF vaccines last year. All vaccinations ceased on July 1 last year.
DIPLOMACY
Taiwan-Japan talks to begin
The sixth edition of talks on maritime affairs between officials from Taiwan and Japan would be held this week in Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. The Maritime Affairs Cooperation Dialogue is scheduled to be held in Taipei tomorrow, the ministry said. The talks would touch on a range of issues concerning Taiwan and Japan, in particular cooperation on maritime safety, science, energy development, fisheries and environmental protection, it said. Led by Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), the Taiwanese side is to include officials from the Ocean Affairs Council, the Coast Guard Administration, the National Academy of Marine Research and the Fisheries Agency, among others, it said. The Japanese delegation would be headed by Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi. The dialogue was initiated in the wake of a fisheries dispute in waters near Japan-controlled Okinotori Atoll in 2016. In April of that year, Japanese authorities detained a Taiwanese fishing vessel near the atoll, which they consider to be an island and therefore entitled to a 200 nautical mile (370.4km) exclusive economic zone. This action was protested by Taiwan. They held their first meeting six months later, with each side agreeing to take turns hosting future gatherings.
TOURISM
Forest railway to resume
The Alishan Forest Railway is to resume mainline services on Saturday, following disruption caused by Typhoon Gaemi last month, the Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office said on Friday. The office suspended mainline and branch-line services on July 23 as a precautionary measure due to the approaching Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall in northeastern Taiwan at about midnight the following day. Services on the branch lines on Alishan in Chiayi County were brought back on July 29. However, services on the mainline were disrupted by fallen trees, bamboo and rocks at 116 locations, the office said. The railway itself sustained no significant damage, it added. Work to restore the services is expected to be completed on Wednesday, followed by two days of test runs, before the services resume on Saturday, it said. Launched in 1912 for the logging business, the Alishan Forest Railway was only fully reopened on July 6, after 15 years of work repairing damage sustained during Typhoon Morakot in 2009 and the 2015 typhoon season. Booking for the resumed mainline services would be opened online through the office’s Web site at 6am tomorrow.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
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