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One of the top stories from this past week was that China will begin allowing residents of three cities -- Nanchang, Kunming, and Chongqing -- to transit through Taiwanese airports on a trial basis.
The deputy minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, Lin Chu-chia, said Thursday that the move will benefit both China and Taiwan. He said that the Mainland Affairs Council hopes to see the transits begin as soon as possible.
Lin said China made the decision unilaterally, without any discussion with Taiwanese officials.
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Also this past week, Taiwan's foreign minister, David Lin, met with Japan’s representative to Taiwan, Mikio Numata. Lin called on Japan’s government to apologize to Taiwan's former “comfort women”, who Japan forced into sexual slavery during World War II.
Lin also called for reparations, the restoration of the former comfort women’s honor and dignity, and provisions for their care.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry formed a committee which came up with the four demands that were presented to Japan's representative on Wednesday.
Numata said he would present the requests to Japan's government. Taiwan officials have been asking for an apology and other reparations from Japan's government after Japan and South Korea reached an agreement on comfort women in December.
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And finally, this past week, Taiwan’s EVA Air was rated one of the world’s top airlines in the latest ranking by AirlineRatings.com. The rankings take into account both safety and product, and include ratings for 407 airlines.
EVA achieved a perfect seven out of seven stars in ratings for both safety and products. The website said the airline’s strengths as its fatality free record, the high percentage of double aisle aircraft in its fleet, and high quality flight offerings.
Top of the list for the third year in a row was Australia’s Qantas Airlines.