Taiwan yesterday hosted a news conference with Canadian lawmakers in Ottawa, urging the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to include Taiwan in its general assembly, which opened today in Montreal.
It was Taiwan’s first time holding a news conference at Canada’s National Press Theatre.
The event had cross-party support from Canada’s legislature, cohosted by Liberal Member of Parliament and Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group cochair Judy Sgro and Conservative Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Democratic Reform Michael Cooper.
Photo: CNA
The two Canadian lawmakers said that the Taiwan Flight Information Region (FIR) is an inseparable part of global aviation safety.
Sgro said that Taiwan’s exclusion from the ICAO “endangers not only regional stability, but the safety and security of global air travel.”
Taiwan’s exclusion was “bending to Beijing’s bullying, Cooper said, adding that Taiwan is a “major player in global aviation,” as an international hub with “tens of millions of passengers and cargo” transiting through the nation.
As host of the 42nd ICAO Assembly, Canada should send a clear message to the ICAO that Taiwan’s participation is essential to global aviation safety, Cooper added.
Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) said that China’s military exercises in recent years have threatened regional air safety, disrupting international flight routes in the Taiwan FIR and putting passenger safety at risk.
Since August 2022, China has conducted at least four large-scale military exercises, none of which were announced seven days in advance as required by ICAO regulations, Tseng said.
“We must not allow political maneuvers to take precedence over aviation safety,” he said. “I urge Canada and all our friends around the world to stand with Taiwan and keep politics out of aviation safety.”
Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) Deputy Director-General Lin Jiunn-liang (林俊良) said that Taiwan’s exclusion from ICAO blocks access to crucial safety information, forcing the CAA to rely on incomplete sources and preventing real-time international coordination.
Only through Taiwan’s meaningful participation can the ICAO’s mission of “no one left behind” be truly realized, Lin said.
The news conference was broadcast live on Canada’s Cable Public Affairs Channel.
The channel also invited Lin for a separate interview explaining the importance of Taiwan’s FIR to Canadian travelers and global aviation safety.
The 42nd ICAO Assembly opened today and runs until Friday next week at ICAO headquarters in Montreal.
Taiwan’s ICAO action team has already traveled to Montreal, where it is to meet with delegations from various countries to explain the necessity of Taiwan’s participation in the ICAO.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
BACK TO WINTER: A strong continental cold air mass would move south on Tuesday next week, bringing colder temperatures to northern and central Taiwan A tropical depression east of the Philippines could soon be upgraded to be the first tropical storm of this year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the next cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Monday next week. CWA forecaster Cheng Jie-ren (鄭傑仁) said the first tropical depression of this year is over waters east of the Philippines, about 1,867km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and could strengthen into Tropical Storm Nokaen by early today. The system is moving slowly from northwest to north, and is expected to remain east of the Philippines with little chance of affecting Taiwan,
RSS