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.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
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