The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus said yesterday the government should pay attention to political moves made by officials from Taiwan’s diplomatic allies during the Beijing Olympic Games next month.
The Taipei Times’ sister newspaper, the Chinese-language Liberty Times, reported yesterday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has not yet compiled a list of government officials from diplomatic allies that will be attending the Games.
DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) yesterday told a press conference at the legislature that China would likely use the Olympics to entice allies away from Taiwan, and that MOFA should try to prevent this and take control of the situation.
He said in the past China has taken every chance it gets to attract Taiwan’s allies.
Lai said that some of the allies maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan because they oppose communism and China’s violation of human rights, but also said that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) were taking an approach of reconciliation toward China, which could alienate Taiwan’s allies.
DPP Legislator Twu Shiing-Jer (�?�) urged the government to allow Taiwan’s Olympic team to bring the country’s flag to Beijing, highlighting Taiwan as a sovereign country.
Taiwanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) said yesterday that some of the leaders of countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan want to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The leaders said they wanted to attend in the name of sport and that their attendance would not affect their relations with Taiwan, Ou said.
On how many of these leaders would be attending the opening ceremony, Ou said that the ministry was still unable to give a number because many of these leaders were undecided.
Ou said that he did not think China would use invitations to the opening ceremony as a way to entice Taiwan’s diplomatic allies.
Ou said that friendly and stable relations are the most important factor for countries that have diplomatic ties with each other.
Relations between two countries do not just change because one country attends the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, he said, adding that if relations did change, that would mean relations were not stable.
At present, Taiwan’s diplomatic relations with these countries is very stable and will not change just because the leaders of these nations go to see the opening ceremony, he said.
What is most important is that these countries tell Taiwan clearly that they are going in the name of sport, that their visits have nothing to do with politics and that their visits will not affect their friendly, bilateral relations with Taiwan, Ou said.
When asked by reporters about what the ministry would do if Taiwan’s athletes suffered oppression from the Chinese government, Ou said this would not happen because the Olympic Games has been held many times and there is an established way of doing things with a set of rules in place.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
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