St. Lucia, the nation's diplomatic ally in the Caribbean, said on Wednesday it would support Taiwan's UN bid in next month's General Assembly meeting.
Presidential Office spokesman David Lee (李南陽) said St. Lucian Acting Prime Minister Stephenson King told President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) over the phone on Wednesday afternoon that he would lead a delegation to the UN to support the bid.
Lee said Chen called King to express concern over the losses caused by Hurricane Dean.
PHOTO: AFP
Chen also invited King to visit Taiwan, but King said he would not be able to do so until early next year. He will, however, send his deputy to visit Tasiwan next month to ink a cooperative agreement.
King assumed the post of acting prime minister in May after Prime Minister John Compton was hospitalized in April. The 82-year-old had been hospitalized after suffering a series of mini-strokes and was unable to carry out his duties.
Some in Taiwan are concerned that if St. Lucia decides that an election is necessary it could lead to a worst-case scenario in which St. Lucia restores diplomatic ties with Beijing.
St. Lucia did not attend yesterday's summit in Honduras where Chen is scheduled to meet leaders of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in Central America.
Taiwan has 12 diplomatic allies in Central and Southern America. They are Belize, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Vincent and Grenadines and St. Lucia.
Chen said Panamanian President Martin Torrijos Espino told him over the telephone on Wednesday afternoon that he would not attend the summit because he has a national strike to deal with. Second Vice President Ruben Arosemena Valdes arrived in Honduras to attend the event on his behalf.
Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic will also send their vice presidents to the meeting, while the presidents of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and the prime minister of Belize will attend the event.
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai (
In a dinner with Taiwanese businesspeople based in Central America, President Chen lamented the difficulties Taiwan encounters in its attempt to expand diplomatic ties.
Diplomats of other countries may need to work a little to get a handsome reward, but Taiwanese diplomats have to work extra hard and sometimes don't get anything in return, he said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but