Taiwan and Libya will improve bilateral economic exchanges by setting up trade offices and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) may accept an invitation to visit the north African state in near future, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
Chen yesterday met with the chairman of the Qaddafi Foundation, Saif Qaddafi, the third eldest son of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
Chen said that the visit of Saif Qaddafi to Taiwan as the envoy of the nation's leader was an historic occasion.
PHOTO: JEROME FAVRE, AP
Accepting an invitation from Muammar Qaddafi to visit Libya in the future, Chen asked Saif Qaddafi to pass on an invitation to his father, asking him to visit Taiwan.
"Both sides have agreed to set up offices in a bid to promote exchanges in diverse areas such as trade, tourism, aviation, education, culture, military affairs and security issues," Chen said.
Saif Qaddafi said that the delegates accompanying him on this trip are especially interested in promoting exchanges in the fields of oil exploitation, technology, trade, security and military affairs.
"I hope Taiwan and Libya can work together to play an important role in Africa to help people there and also to build good partnerships with other African countries," Saif Qaddafi said.
Officials at the Presidential Office attributed Taiwan's recent good relationship with Libya to the long-term efforts of the National Security Council. Officials stressed that it is important for Taiwan to build good relations with oil-producing countries in both Africa and the Middle East.
According to Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General James Huang (黃志芳), Libya has managed to normalize its relations with the US since the Sept. 11 attacks by helping to combat global terrorism.
"Libya is one of a handful of countries in Africa with large fuel reserves. Good relations are crucial to us. Besides, Libya has expressed a lot of interest in Taiwan's development experience, especially in the areas of science parks and information technology," Huang said.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said yesterday that Libya is an important oil-exporting country, and therefore strategically important to Taiwan.
Libya is very keen on further pursuing mutual cooperation with Taiwan on petroleum and high-tech industries, he said.
Taiwan had diplomatic relations with Libya from 1959 to 1978. Taiwan maintained a trade office there from 1980 to 1997 after Libya switched its diplomatic recognition to China. The office was closed in 1997 due to pressure from China.
Additional reporting by Chang Yun-ping
ACTION PLAN: Taiwan would expand procurement from the US and encourage more companies to invest in the US to deepen bilateral cooperation, Lai said The government would not impose reciprocal tariffs in retaliation against US levies, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he announced five strategies to address the issue, including pledging to increase Taiwanese companies’ investments in the US. Lai has in the past few days met with administrative and national security officials, as well as representatives from various industries, to explore countermeasures after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday last week announced a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese imports. In a video released yesterday evening, Lai said that Taiwan would not retaliate against the US with higher tariffs and Taiwanese companies’ commitments to
Intelligence agents have recorded 510,000 instances of “controversial information” being spread online by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so far this year, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday, as it warned of artificial intelligence (AI) being employed to generate destabilizing misinformation. The bureau submitted a written report to the Legislative Yuan in preparation for National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee today. The CCP has been using cognitive warfare to divide Taiwanese society by commenting on controversial issues such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investments in the
HELPING HAND: The steering committee of the National Stabilization Fund is expected to hold a meeting to discuss how and when to utilize the fund to help buffer the sell-off The TAIEX plunged 2,065.87 points, or 9.7 percent, to close at 19,232.35 yesterday, the highest single-day percentage loss on record, as investors braced for US President Donald Trump’s tariffs after an extended holiday weekend. Amid the pessimistic atmosphere, 945 listed companies led by large-cap stocks — including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Largan Precision Co (大立光) — fell by the daily maximum of 10 percent at the close, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The number of listed companies ending limit-down set a new record, the exchange said. The TAIEX plunged by daily maxiumu in just
‘COMPREHENSIVE PLAN’: Lin Chia-lung said that the government was ready to talk about a variety of issues, including investment in and purchases from the US The National Stabilization Fund (NSF) yesterday announced that it would step in to staunch stock market losses for the ninth time in the nation’s history. An NSF board meeting, originally scheduled for Monday next week, was moved to yesterday after stocks plummeted in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 32 percent tariffs on Taiwan on Wednesday last week. Board members voted to support the stock market with the NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) fund, with injections of funds to begin as soon as today. The NSF in 2000 injected NT$120 billion to stabilize stocks, the most ever. The lowest amount it
RSS