President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will head the country’s delegation to the Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit in the Solomon Islands on Oct. 20, Solomons ambassador Beraki Jino said yesterday.
It would be Ma’s first substantive trip overseas to meet diplomatic allies.
Ma had declared a diplomatic truce with China as part of efforts to prevent Beijing from seeking to woo more of Taiwan’s allies. Last year’s summit was canceled as Ma courted China.
“I think the summit will be very low key,” said Shane Lee (李憲榮), a political science professor at Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan.
“Ma is trying to show goodwill to China, so [he] doesn’t want to emphasize the sovereignty of Taiwan,” Lee said.
South Pacific allies, some of which are struggling with substandard health care systems and the threat of being swallowed by rising seas because of global warming, will ask Taiwan to make its positions clear and break new ground in the region, Jino said.
“Mostly we are looking to the Ma administration, to what it can do to strengthen and broaden areas of cooperation instead of just expecting Taiwan to give aid to us,” he said.
In related news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday it would release a white paper next month on foreign aid, outlining the government’s approach to “professional and effective” overseas assistance.”
“Now that statistics concerning our foreign aid programs have been compiled according to the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], the white paper is scheduled to be released in early May,” Department of Economic and Trade Affairs Director-General Weber Shih (施文斌) said.
“The main goal of issuing a white paper on foreign aid is to bring Taiwan’s overseas aid program in line with international trends,” Shih said of the initiative, which will be the first white paper on foreign aid.
The ministry first broached the idea of a white paper last September, but the project was delayed by efforts to bring methodology in line with international standards.
Shih said the paper would stress “transparency and professionalism” as guidelines for overseas assistance.
READY: The CGA said it closely monitored China’s maritime exercise, deployed vessels to shadow the Chinese ships one-on-one and set up emergency response centers Chinese navy and coast guard ships have returned to China, signaling the end of a massive maritime exercise, authorities said yesterday. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) released images it said showed Chinese vessels sailing north in rough seas past Taiwan on Thursday, on their way to China. “All the Chinese coast guard went back to China yesterday, so although they have not officially made any announcement, we consider it over,” CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said. Beijing has not confirmed the drills and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not say whether the maneuvers had taken place when asked at a
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: As some roads would be fully or partially closed, people are advised to take the MRT, with services expanded to accommodate more riders This year’s Taipei Marathon, which has obtained its first gold label certification from World Athletics, is to be held from 5am to 1pm tomorrow and would have 28,000 participants. The race is to start from the Taipei City Plaza and would go through major roads throughout the city, with traffic control implemented from 6am to 2pm, officials said. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system and New Taipei City MRT Circle line would start operating at 5am on the day of the race, they said. The race would cover Renai Road, Xinyi Road, Hangzhou S Road, Aiguo east and west roads,
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
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