The Presidential Office yesterday said that the four-day visit of Singaporean Deputy Prime Min-ister Lee Hsien Loong (
A senior official, speaking to the Taipei Times on condition of anonymity, added that the government had worked hard to impress its guest.
"The visit should be thought of as a trip of `understanding' for Mr. Lee before he is inaugurated as Singapore's next prime minister," the official said.
"The visit was proposed by the Singaporean government and we gladly embraced the opportunity to arrange a top-level reception and provide full assistance in meeting Mr. Lee's expectations [of meetings with high-level figures]," the official said.
The official said that President Chen Shui-bian (
"However, Lee demonstrated caution when touching on cross-strait and diplomatic matters. He was most certainly not serving as a negotiator between [Taiwan and China] and did not deliver a message from Beijing," the official said.
The official also stressed that although Chen and Lee vowed to strengthen trade and military ties, no new agreements were reached during the meeting.
"President Chen met Lee at the Presidential Office, where Lee's father -- former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) -- had never been, and then the president hosted a dinner at his residence in honor of Lee, in a show that Chen and Lee were good and old friends," a presidential aide said.
Before leaving the country yesterday afternoon, Lee met American Institute in Taiwan director Douglas Paal and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Paal and Lee met privately for an hour and did not respond to media questions about what they had discussed. For his part, Ma said he was glad to meet an old friend but also declined to reveal the contents of their meeting.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) said yesterday that Taiwan is eager to boost ties with Singapore.
"We will negotiate with Singapore on signing a free trade agreement," he said.
Before receiving leaders of 39 technical missions serving in allied and other countries, Mark Chen told reporters he did not discuss cross-strait affairs with Lee.
Mark Chen, Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and National Security Council Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) also attended the dinner at Chen Shui-bian's residence.
Mark Chen was tight-lipped about the issues discussed during the dinner. Asked of his personal impression of Lee, he replied: "He is a handsome man."
Mark Chen declined to confirm if it was Singapore that first proposed Lee's trip.
Meanwhile, Singaporean officials yesterday said China's central bank chief has canceled a visit to Singapore.
The governor of the People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan (周小川), had been scheduled to deliver a lecture today at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state's de facto central bank.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore would not say why Zhou had called off his lecture, a spokeswoman told AFP yesterday.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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