The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday announced that the newly appointed Charge d'Affaires of the Holy See to Taiwan, Paul Fitzgerald Russell, will assume the post at the end of next month — a statement made in response to speculation that there had been a change in bilateral relations between Taiwan and the Vatican.
“Regarding media reports that the Vatican has not assigned a new representative to replace the outgoing charge d’affaires, we must clarify that the ministry was notified by the Vatican long ago about the appointment of its new charge d’affaires,” Anne Hung (洪慧珠), director-general of the ministry’s Department of European Affairs, said at a regular press briefing.
The new papal nuncio will replace Monsignor Ambrose Madtha.
According to a Deutsche Welle report that cited the Catholic News Agency (KNA), the Vatican’s reassignment of Madtha to the Ivory Coast without announcing his successor indicated that the Holy See was seeking warmer ties with China.
“The Vatican said that it was sorry to cause such doubt and agreed that we could announce the new charge d’affaires to Taiwan before the Holy See does,” Hung said.
Madtha will accompany Archbishop Edward Joseph Adam, the Vatican representative to the Philippines, to Tuesday’s presidential inauguration ceremony.
Delegates from 14 European countries are also expected at the event, Hung said, touting the strength of Taiwan’s relationship with EU states.
Despite a lack official ties between Taiwan and the EU, the two enjoy strong informal relations, evident in the more than 40 congratulatory messages from various Europeans nations to president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on his victory, she said.
Hung said European well wishers will include a delegatation from the UK led by Sir Nicholas Winterton, joint chairman of the parliamentary British-Taiwan Group.
The EU, however, has not so far taken an official stance on Taiwan’s WHO bid this year, Hung said.
In the past, the EU has not supported Taiwan’s attempts to gain full membership or observer status at the annual World Health Assembly but threw its weight behind increasing Taiwan’s “meaningful participation” in the health body.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
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