Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials' difficulties in participating in the annual Liberal International (LI) congress was more evidence that China is blocking Taiwan's international space, Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), the director of the party's Department of International Affairs, said yesterday.
In a news conference yesterday afternoon, Hsiao denounced China's suppression of the DPP's attendance at LI's annual congress in Bulgaria last week.
According to Hsiao, Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun was to have represented Taiwan and the DPP at the congress, held from May 12 to May 14.
However, because of Beijing's pressure, Yu could not make the trip to Bulgaria.
Therefore, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (
She was accompanied by the director of the DPP's Department of Woman's Development, Hsu Chia-ching (
All three were forbidden from using their titles as DPP officials when applying for their Bulgarian visas, Hsiao said.
She said they were also followed throughout their visit to Bulgaria by two unidentified persons sent by the Chinese embassy in Sofia.
These two people even tried to physically block her from attending the LI congress, she said.
Hsiao was elected as LI's vice president during the congress -- an event she described as the biggest accomplishment of her participation in the congress.
Liberal International is a federation of liberal political parties from around the world. It was established in 1947.
‘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
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
RSS