The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is mulling a minor reshuffle of its diplomatic personnel abroad, with representative to Mexico Tsai Meng-hung (蔡孟宏) expected to be appointed as the nation's new ambassador to the Dominican Republic, a ministry official said yesterday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Tsai would succeed Chen Hsien-hsiang (陳顯祥), who is to be transferred back to the ministry in Taipei after his successor assumes office, while Chen Hsin-tung (陳新東), deputy director-general of the ministry's Department of Central and South American Affairs, would fill the vacancy left by Tsai's departure.
Addressing the issue of the nation's representative-designate to Ireland, Parris Chang (張旭成), the official said that if the Irish government continued to reject Chang's visa application, the ministry would not rule out assigning someone else in his place.
Chang -- formerly a Democratic Progressive Party representative to the US and a deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council -- was sworn in during a ceremony in Taipei on Sept. 5, but has been unable to assume his new post.
The official said that the nation's representative to Vietnam, Huang Nan-huei (黃南輝), and the representative to Norway, Kuo Ming-shan (郭明山), were also likely to be transferred in the short term.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
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