1)
One of the top stories from this past week was that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je announced on Monday that the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2017 Summer Universiade will be held at the Taipei Municipal Track and Field Stadium rather than at the controversial Taipei Dome, which is still under construction.
Taipei was given the right to host the 2017 Summer Universiade in 2011 and promised that the Taipei Dome would be the event's main venue.
However, the facility has been at the center of a dispute between the Taipei City Government and the company that’s building the venue -- Farglory -- over safety concerns.
2)
Also this past week, Deputy Transport Minister Wu Men-Feng says that allowing Mainland Chinese travelers to transfer flights in Taiwan will not lead to overcrowding in Taiwan’s airports.
Under current regulations, Mainland Chinese are not allowed to make connections in Taiwan. But during a cross-strait meeting in May, Taiwan and Mainland China reached a consensus on removing this restriction. Both sides hope to see the rule lifted by the end of the year.
Under the agreement, Mainland travelers making connections in Taiwan will not need the permits normally required to enter Taiwan.
3)
And finally, this past week, Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation has announced that two new cross-strait cooperation agreements have taken effect.
The two agreements- one on weather monitoring and the other on observing seismic activity- entered into force on Wednesday. Taiwan and Mainland China originally signed the agreements in February last year, but last year’s protests against the cross-strait trade in services agreement delayed the implementation of the agreements.
The Straits Exchange Foundation says that the new agreements will give scientists on both sides of the Taiwan Strait a means for sharing data in real time. This will improve the accuracy of weather forecasts.