The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday announced that 17 heads of states and high-ranking leaders from the nation’s allies would attend the May 20 inauguration of president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the highest number of foreign dignitaries ever to attend the ceremony.
The 17 leaders include the king of Swaziland, the presidents of Honduras, Paraguay, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Burkina Faso, San Tome and Principe and El Salvador and the vice presidents of Guatemala, Gambia and Nicaragua.
The Solomon Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent will send their governors-general, while the prime ministers of Tuvalu and Belize also plan to attend.
Leaders of the nation’s other allies have said they will not be able to attend and have expressed their regret, promising to visit in the near future, the ministry said.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆) said the nation’s only European ally, the Vatican, would follow its usual protocol, sending an ambassador stationed in a nearby country to the ceremony.
All 23 of the nation’s allies have officially congratulated Ma on his victory, he said.
The deputy minister, however, was unable to divulge any details on representatives from non-allies, such as the US, Japan and the EU, except to say that the envoys would most likely be retired ranking officials.
Ma arrived at the ministry in the morning, accompanied by vice president-elect Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), his top aide Su Chi (蘇起) and former diplomat John Feng (馮寄台).
After the two-hour briefing, Ma declined to discuss the meeting.
“The discussions were confidential,” Ma said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) briefed Ma on the nation’s diplomatic efforts yesterday and assured Ma that ties with the allies remained stable ahead of his inauguration.
Huang said that Ma expressed his concern over the nation’s diplomatic situation and said he expected to strengthen ties with diplomatic allies after he takes office.
Regarding the inauguration ceremony, Huang said the ministry had been discussing the guests and their reception with Ma’s office for the past three weeks.
The ministry will be in touch with the guests and help ensure a successful inauguration ceremony, he said.
Ma has said he hopes to have a simple and inexpensive inauguration ceremony.
The Presidential Office has budgeted NT$90 million (US$ 2.9 million) for the ceremony.
Ma spokesman Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said Ma would ask diplomatic allies to cut the number of representatives they send to the ceremony, adding that Ma would not arrange presidential suites for the guests.
Ma will invite guests from the US and Japan personally, rather than through the ministry, as Ma and Siew have personal contacts with both countries, Luo said.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
RSS