Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said yesterday he was honored to be chosen as the president’s envoy for next month’s APEC leadership summit in Peru.
“This is a great responsibility. I will participate in the meeting and spare no effort,” Lien told reporters in front of his house.
Taiwan’s presidents have been barred from the annual APEC summits because of pressure from Beijing.
On Wednesday, the Presidential Office said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) tapped Lien for the Lima meeting, and that Lien was the most suitable candidate given his understanding of the international situation and an impressive educational background.
Lien will attend the event in his capacity as chairman of the National Policy Foundation, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) think tank. As a former vice president, Lien will be the highest-ranking Taiwanese official ever to attend an APEC summit.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, Lien said he would share his views and experiences with APEC leaders.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday the choice of Lien signified the lessening of tension across the Taiwan Strait.
Ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said China’s approval of Lien as envoy shows Beijing is acquiescing to Taiwan’s offer of a “diplomatic truce” and the issue of Taiwan’s international space was slowly being resolved.
Noting that APEC is one of the most important international organizations that Taiwan has joined as a full member, Chen said Lien’s attendance would be a positive development in cross-strait relations.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU AND CNA
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its