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.
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
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS