Taiwan and the Solomon Islands yesterday put on a display of friendship, pledging to deepen ties amid rumors that the Pacific nation ally might shift diplomatic recognition to Beijing.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met with Solomon Islands Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeremiah Manele at the Presidential Office in Taipei, during which she lauded the 36 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations, and thanked Honiara for its continuous support of Taiwan’s efforts to participate in UN agencies and related activities.
“Good friends should get together often, and Taiwan and the Solomon Islands are a perfect example of this spirit,” Tsai said, citing Solomon Islands Speaker of Parliament Patteson Oti’s participation in the annual gathering of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union in Taipei at the beginning of last month and a visa waiver agreement that was signed by Manele and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu in the middle of last month.
Photo: CNA
Tsai also mentioned a video produced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that tells the story of Solomon Islands doctor Paul Bosawai Popora, who studied in Taiwan and established a clinic in a rural area to help the poor in his nation.
Tsai added that she toured the Taiwan Health Center in the Solomon Islands National Referral Hospital during her 2017 visit to Honiara, where she received a briefing from Taiwan’s medical mission.
“Their work made one thing very clear to me: Taiwan is a responsible member of the international community and a partner willing to make contributions. This is more than just a slogan, it is what we are putting into practice every day,” she said.
Taiwan and the Solomon Islands are partners that support each other and share the values of freedom, democracy, human rights and combating climate change, as demonstrated over the past three years, when both countries benefited from projects in agriculture, medical services and human resources, she said.
She vowed to further promote bilateral relations and expressed the hope that Honiara would continue its support of Taiwan’s participation on the international stage.
Manele arrived on Sunday with a four-member delegation, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Collin Beck, for a five-day visit, his first since becoming foreign minister in May.
The delegation last night were guest of honor at a banquet hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Taipei Guest House.
American Institute in Taiwan Director Brent Christensen was among the guests.
Before the banquet, Wu and Manele held a news conference, where Manele said the visa waiver agreement and Oti’s visit last month demonstrated the “active, friendly, rich and progressive relations” between the two nations.
Asked about reports in June that the Solomon Islands government would decide in 100 days whether to switch diplomatic allegiance to Beijing, Beck did not respond directly.
His government is examining broad diplomatic relations, and not just targeting Taiwan, he said.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan and Bloomberg
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
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
RSS