The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has finally filled the vacancy for Taiwan's representative in Israel, announcing that senior diplomat Ting Gan-cheng (
The ministry had not appointed a replacement mission chief following the retirement of former representative to Israel, Teng Shen-sheng (
Michael Huang (
However, it has been alleged that this subsequently fell through as a result of Huang's involvement in the case of former US State Department official Donald Keyser's betrayal of state secrets.
The ministry denied this speculation and said that the delayed announcement of the new representative to Israel was because of Israel's invasion of Lebanon.
Ting has been serving as deputy secretary-general of the ministry's Coordination Council for North American Affairs and has served in the Department of Treaty and Legal Affairs.
Ting earned a master's degree in law at Soochow University specializing in international law and subsequently worked in the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv for six years.
Meanwhile, John Chen (陳忠), director-general of the Department of International Organizations, will be sent to New Zealand to serve as Taiwan's representative there.
This follows speculation that former deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council Parris Chang (張旭成) was originally the first-choice candidate for the position but that Chang was nixed by New Zealand.
In June, former representative to New Zealand Victor Chin (秦日新) was demoted to the post of consultant at the country's trade mission in Fiji due to his alleged involvement in embezzling official funds.
Also, Lo Koon-tsan (羅坤燦), executive director of ministry's Committee on Japanese Affairs, was appointed as the second deputy representative to Japan to join Chen Hung-chi (陳鴻基), Taiwan's deputy representative.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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