Malawian Ambassador to Taiwan Thengo Maloya yesterday reassured Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) that his country had no intention of switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the People's Republic of China.
"It's a media report. The media can say anything ... The relationship between Taiwan and Malawi is stable, and I think it's stronger," the ambassador said when approached by the media at the ministry for a comment on recent reports.
Maloya was summoned to talks with Huang yesterday morning, the second time after a story published on Friday by the Nyasa Times, an online newspaper in Malawi, saying that Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika had sanctioned severing diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of China.
Maloya told the media yesterday that "there is no change" in the relationship between Taiwan and Malawi and that he "will be the first to know" if there were.
Asked if Taiwan should have faith in the relationship, Maloya said: "Of course."
A high-level official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who requested not to be named, said Huang had met Maloya to discuss the matter on Saturday night.
"Maloya told us [yesterday] that he had talked with his president on two occasions over the phone last weekend and that his president had denied a plan to change diplomatic relations," the official said.
The Nyasa Times said that two of Mutharika's senior Cabinet ministers, accompanied by two senior officials from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, were to leave for Beijing to sign a Memorandum of Understanding paving the way for full diplomatic relations between the two countries.
"Maloya said he was not sure if the two senior ministers were planning to go to Beijing, but he knew for sure that they had not been instructed by Mutharika to do so," the official said.
The official said that Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆), who was recently sent to Malawi to deal with the situation, had met Mutharika and obtained the same response given the ministry by the ambassador.
Asked by reporters to assess Taiwan's relationship with Malawi, the officials said: "We can't doubt the promise [Maloya] has given us."
"We will remain vigilant on this matter. Whether the two senior Cabinet ministers will make their visit to China is an indicator [of future developments], but Malawian Cabinet ministers have visited China in the past," the official said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS