Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) announced yesterday that Taiwan is preparing to open its market to fresh blueberries from Poland, as he hosted a visiting group of Polish lawmakers.
The government has given the green light to the import policy, which is now pending the completion of final administrative procedures, Lin said at a lunch banquet with the delegation from the Polish-Taiwanese Parliamentary Group.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture has promulgated quarantine regulations for fresh Polish blueberries, initiating a 60-day public comment period, with local media reporting that the market opening could take effect in September.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
At the banquet, Lin thanked Lukasz Horbatowski, Marek Chmielewski, and Iwona Krawczyk for their support of Taiwan that have deepened ties between the two countries on various fronts, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
Meanwhile, Lin expressed hope for deeper Taiwan- Poland cooperation in AI, drones, and advanced chips -- building on existing ties in economics, higher education, the judiciary, and technology -- to help create a resilient, democracy-based, non-China supply chain, MOFA said
Visiting Taiwan for the first time, Horbatowski said he was deeply impressed by the country’s advanced political and economic development.
As a major exporter of agricultural products, Poland welcomes Taiwan’s decision to open its market to Polish blueberries, Horbatowski said, adding he hopes for continued cooperation between Taiwan and Poland in both agriculture and high-tech sectors to enhance the well-being of their peoples.
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth