President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will not request that special forces provide protection for the Dalai Lama during his six-day visit to Taiwan, the Presidential Office said yesterday, despite concerns over the safety of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said there was a “consensus among government agencies” that they would use police rather than a special detail to ensure the safety of the Buddhist leader.
The Measure Regarding the Special Operations of the National Security Bureau (國家安全局特種勤務實施辦法) states that the protection objectives of the special detail include the president, vice president and their families; former presidents and former vice presidents; presidential and vice presidential candidates and their families. At his discretion, the president can ask that the detail provide security for other dignitaries.
A group of demonstrators believed to be gangsters protested close to the Taipei High Speed Rail after the Dalai Lama’s arrival in Taiwan on Sunday, raising concern about his safety.
Chang An-le (張安樂), the fugitive former leader of the Bamboo Union gang known as the “White Wolf,” said in a TV interview in China that he detested the Dalai Lama’s “political tactics” of capitalizing on disaster in Taiwan, vowing to mobilize his followers to protest against the Buddhist leader should he engage in any political activity, including public speeches.
The Democratic Progressive Party yesterday criticized the administration for failing to prevent gangsters from harassing the Dalai Lama, while providing massive amounts of security during the visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) in November last year.
Wang said Ma would not meet the Dalai Lama during his visit.
The spiritual leader of the Tibetan government in exile arrived on Sunday and is scheduled to leave on Friday.
The Dalai Lama also said on Monday that he would not meet Ma because he did not have a political agenda and didn’t want to “create inconveniences [for] anybody.”
Then-Taipei mayor Ma met the Dalai Lama in 2001. At the time, Ma presented him the key to Taipei and said “Taipei City always welcomes you.”
After taking office as president in May last year, Ma rejected a proposed trip by the Dalai Lama last December, saying the timing was “inappropriate.”
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit this time marks his third trip to Taiwan. He first visited Taiwan in 1997.
The Presidential Office approved the visit on Aug. 26, saying the decision was based on religious and humanitarian considerations.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS