A Taiwanese embassy formally opened yesterday in Kiribati, the tiny Pacific island nation that is Taiwan's newest diplomatic ally.
Attending the event were Kiribati President Anote Tong and Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
Taiwan established diplomatic ties with Kiribati -- the first country each day to greet the sun -- on Nov. 7 last year.
Tong held a closed-door meeting with Chien prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the embassy to discuss cooperation programs.
Having received President Chen Shui-bian's (
"We are very much a developing country," Tong said. "Nevertheless, we also hope to offer something [to Taiwan] in return."
Tong said he hoped Taiwanese businesspeople would find investment opportunities in Kiribati and that the two countries can carry out cultural exchanges.
Home to less than 100,000 people, Kiribati became independent from the UK in 1979.
The country until recently was home to a satellite station owned by China, which severed ties with Kiribati several weeks after Taiwan and Kiribati established diplomatic relations.
Chien, in his speech at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, thanked the Kiribati government for its generosity in choosing to locate the embassy in an area that is home to important government buildings.
The embassy is situated only hundreds of meters away from the former Chinese embassy. Chinese officials have left the country. Only a few caretakers remain in the embassy, one of the nicest buildings in Kiribati.
Tong said the site for the Taiwanese embassy is a historical one. It used to be the site of the British High Commission. It is also located close to the Kiribati government's headquarters.
Tong said he hoped that living arrangements close to the Taiwanese Embassy could be procured for embassy staff.
Tong and Chien both expressed appreciation of the efforts of Samuel Chen (
Chien also said it is a good thing that Samuel Chen's wife, Leigh Chen (
Samuel Chen, who worked non-stop through the Christmas and New Year's holidays to supervise construction of the embassy, said that he had gone through considerable hardship in getting accustomed to life in this remote land.
Although a one-way trip from Taiwan to Kiribati takes nearly 24 hours, Samuel Chen said he did not feel particularly lonely or homesick on the island, which currently has no Taiwanese immigrants.
The ambassador said his greatest challenge is getting used to the weather.
"It is very hot here," Samuel Chen said. "I often sweat profusely.
"The work is hard here. But I feel very proud when I realize that the hard work has cemented Taiwan's ties with Kiribati," he said.
Samuel Chen also said that Taiwan had dispatched business and agricultural teams to Kiribati to help with cooperation programs.
"It is a very special and rare experience to open a new embassy," the ambassador said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS