| Current edition | Previous edition | News Index | Contents | |
| Current edition | Previous edition | News Index | Contents |
---"Focused Coverage Informed Perspectives"--- Tue, Oct 14, 1997 editionTaipei and Pyongyang in talks to exchange trade offices?
Foreign minister says it's premature to discuss the subject
Also in this edition . . .
1: Taipei is accused of channeling funds for protests in Western Samoa
2: Beijing tries to choose its partners for talks
3: Pressure from Beijing forces Canberra to shorten its guest lists
4: President Lee welcomes governor of US state
5: Agreement signed to increase internet services to Taiwan
TAIWAN DESK
North Korea: foreign minister will not discuss reports of ongoing negotiations to exchange offices with North Korea
Vice Premier and Foreign Minister John Chang said on Monday that he could not confirm if Taiwan and North Korea are in discussions concerning the exchange of representative offices.Chang told reporters that it was still premature to say that the two countries were ready to exchange representative offices with North Korea. Chang was responding to reports that North Korea had authorized its semi-official Committee for the Promotion of International Trade (CPIT) to exchange representative offices with the ROC's Taipei Import Export Association (TIEA) by the end of this year and to negotiate investment guarantees and tax exemption accords with Taiwan.
Chang said that although Taiwan once considered exchanging representative offices with North Korea, there was still some way to go before this goal could be reached. He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will report any developments at the proper time.
TIEA President Lee Tung-liang said he plans to invite the CPIT vice chairman to visit Taipei later this year to discuss technical details concerning the exchange of representative office. If all goes smoothly, Lee said, the two sides will seal an agreement in mid-December and that the respective representative offices will become operational by next January to facilitate bilateral tourist and commercial exchanges.
Western Samoa: Taipei is accused of funding protests
The government on Monday denied an accusation from Western Samoa that Taiwan had provided funding for an anti-government protest in Western Samoa. The government dismissed the accusation made in Apia, the nation's capital, as malicious and irresponsible.Vice Premier and acting Foreign Minister John Chang said on state-funded radio that Taiwan has never, and will never, interfere in domestic affairs of any foreign government. He considered this kind of accusation extremely malicious and irresponsible.
Western Samoa's Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana was quoted on Monday as saying that Taiwan had provided more than US$500,000 to fund an opposition-led demonstration against rising price and the government's financial management. Alesana said he had a very reliable source that the government of Taiwan was pouring money into the Tumua and Pule protest campaign. He said it was possible Taiwan decided to aid the protest because it was upset with Western Samoa's recognition of communist China.
Opposition leader Tuiatua Tamasese called the allegation groundless. He said they would respond to the prime minister's accusation, only if he named the opposition members involved and produced evidence to substantiate the claims.
Beijing is Western Samoa's single biggest foreign aid donor, injecting tens of millions of U.S. dollars into the country's development, the China Post reported.
see also: http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/86101403.htm
(Note: the China Times articles are limited to subscribers. As the paper's system is currently configured, to access an article listed here you must first go to the front-page first at http://www.chinatimes.com and from there locate the article)
Cross strait relations: Beijing tries to choose its partners
The Taiwan Provincial Government yesterday denied reports that Governor James Soong might be chosen by Beijing as one of its key partners in cross-strait dialogue.Huang Yi-chiao, director of the provincial Department of Information, said such reports were mere speculation, and the Soong administration would not comment on them.
Huang said that Soong would respect the central government's authority because cross-strait relations concerned national interests, and fell under the jurisdiction of the central government.
Recent newspaper reports alleged that Beijing might choose from the ruling Kuomintang some of the second-generation political figures as its key dialogue partners in the so-called post-Lee Teng-hui era, and that Soong was among the candidates. Bejing distrusts President Lee, believing he harbours real intentions to lead Taiwan to independence.
See also: http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/86101407.htm
(Note: the China Times articles are limited to subscribers. As the paper's system is currently configured, to access an article listed here you must first go to the front-page first at http://www.chinatimes.com and from there locate the article)
Australia: Pressure from Beijing forces Canberra to shorten its guest lists
( Sources: Central News Agency and the China Post ) According to a report by the Australian Financial Review, the Australian government is cutting back its invitations to low-ranking government officials from Taiwan in order to appease mainland China.The Review's Bruce Cheesman reported that Taiwan was more concerned with Australian's "one China" policy than with the anti-Asian views of Independence Member of Parliament Pauline Hanson.
The daily reported that Canberra sent Resources and Energy Minister Warwick Parer to attend a business council meeting in Taipei in a very low-key fashion, unlike the highly visible visit by Primary Industry Minister John Anderson last year.
The daily also said that Australian diplomats forced the Australian New Zealand Bank to stop the head of the bank's operations in Taipei, Jeffrey Cox, from visiting China to attend the opening of a new branch in Beijing. The daily reported that Taiwan has admonished Canberra through its trade offices in Australia for benefiting from rapidly increasing investment from Taipei without reciprocating through wider support for the island's bid to break out of its international isolation.
Virginia: President Lee welcomes governor of US state
( Source: Central News Agency ) President Lee Teng-hui extended a warm welcome to visiting Governor George Allen of the U.S. State of Virginia on Monday. President Lee expressed his hope that Taiwan and Virginia can increase trade and economic relations based on their present friendly ties.Virginia signed a sisterhood agreement with Taiwan in 1981. President Lee said he hoped Allen will meet with many local business leaders in order to boost mutual bilateral understanding during his stay in Taiwan.
Allen told the president he is impressed by Taiwan's progress and prosperity and that he will work toward increased exchanges and cooperation between his U.S. state and the Republic of China.
Internet: Agreement signed to increase internet services to Taiwan
Taiwan's National Information Infrastructure (NII) on Monday signed a cooperative agreement with CommerceNet, the world's largest organization of Internet service-providing firms.The agreement, signed at the Technology Building in Taipei, established arrangements for CommerceNet to help Taiwan-based firms offer improved services via the Internet in line with the trend toward internationalization of electronic services.
Under the agreement, the NII association will establish "CommerceNet Taiwan," linking up partners from 14 similar organizations world-wide.
When CommerceNet Taiwan is set up, network services offering the latest service information in both English and Chinese will be made available, said Hsia Han- min, president of the NII Industrial Development Association, after the signing ceremony. The system will encourage Taiwan-based service providers to meet international standards, he said.
See also: http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/commerce/hitech/86101402.htm
(Note: the China Times articles are limited to subscribers. As the paper's system is currently configured, to access an article listed here you must first go to the front-page first at http://www.chinatimes.com and from there locate the article)