Former Czech president Vaclav Havel will visit Taiwan from Jan. 17 to 24 at the invitation of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
During his stay in Taiwan, Havel is scheduled to meet with Chen, deliver a speech at a forum organized by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, accept an honorary doctorate from National Chengchi University and attend a discussion with Taiwanese writers and artists.
Havel's Asian trip started yesterday. The government of India will award Havel the Gandhi Peace Prize for his contribution to world peace and upholding human rights through Gandhian means in the most difficult situations.
Thailand and Taiwan are Havel's next destinations before traveling to Indonesia, where he will take in the Lunar New Year.
Havel, a human-rights activist and a playwright, was elected president of Czechoslovakia in 1989 after the collapse of the communist regime.
He became president again in 1990 as the first president of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic and was elected president of the Czech Republic in 1993.
He stepped down as president in February after serving two five-year terms in the Czech Republic.
Havel's wife Dagmar Havlova will accompany him on the trip.
Despite the Czech Republic's lack of diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Havel received former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and former premier Lien Chan (連戰). At the 1995 United Nations General Assembly, the Czech Republic supported Taiwan's unsuccessful bid to rejoin the world body.
Last February, the Taipei International Book Exhibition featured a wide range of publications from the Czech Republic, with special attention given to the publishing of two Chinese-translations of Havel's two books, The Power of the Powerless and Farewell to Politics.
Havel is also scheduled to attend a press conference launching his latest book in Taipei.
Meanwhile, President Jean Bertrand Aristide of Haiti promised continued support for Taiwan in the international community and wished Chen success in his re-election bid in March, Taiwan Ambassador to Haiti Hsieh Hsin-ping said on Friday.
According to Hsieh, Aristide made the pledge during a meeting on Dec. 31 at the Presidential Office with Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen (
Aristide thanked Yao for coming to Haiti and expressed his hope that Chen would succeed in his re-election bid and visit Haiti again. He also promised to continue backing Taiwan in the international arena, Hsieh said.
For his part, Yao explained the latest economic and political developments at home to Aristide and invited him to visit Taiwan.
Stating that Taiwan is a peace-loving country where human rights and freedom are fully respected, Yao said the Taiwanese government hopes to maintain close relations with friendly nations across the world, including Haiti -- a long-time diplomatic ally of Taiwan in the Caribbean.
Yao proceeded to the Dominican Republic Jan. 2 after having concluded activities in Haiti.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at