Taiwan will hold its first ever summit with its six Pacific island allies in Palau in early September, Marshall Islands President Kessai Note said yesterday.
The Pacific Islands have been a battleground for diplomatic recognition between Taiwan and China and the summit between Taipei and its allies follows a similar meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
President Chen Shui-bian (
The six Pacific island countries which recognize Taiwan are the Marshall Islands, Palau, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru.
Taiwan's ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Chen Lien-gene (
"The main purpose of this summit is to review and discuss the cooperation between Taiwan and the Pacific region as a whole," the ambassador said.
The theme will be good governance and government capacity-building and a health forum will be held at the same time, he added.
"It is important that we work closely in the region with our development partners," Note said in a statement. "Taiwan has done tremendous work in the Marshall Islands to improve the health, education and living standards."
Next year's summit would be held in the Marshall Islands capital Majuro, according to an agreement between the Taiwanese and Marshall Islands governments.
The competition between China and Taiwan for recognition in the Pacific has worried analysts in the region, who fear it could increase political instability.
Impoverished island countries have swapped their allegiance between Beijing and Taipei over the years and have been adept at playing the two off against each other, winning handsome aid packages.
There have also been accusations that local politicians have been bribed for support.
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
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS