Francisco Santana, El Salvador’s ambassador to Taiwan, said yesterday it would be understandable if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) cancels his trip to the Central American ally next month because of the global swine flu outbreak.
“We know that the outbreaks of the swine flu are of great concern [to many countries] at the moment. Therefore, it is understandable if President Ma cannot visit El Salvador should the disease continue to spread,” Santana said.
Ma is planning to visit three allies in Central America from May 27 to June 4. He is scheduled to attend the inauguration of El Salvador’s president-elect Mauricio Funes on June 1 and also travel to Guatemala and Honduras.
The outbreak of the new H1N1 swine flu and its spread across the globe has given rise to concerns about the president’s safety on his planned trip.
Deputy Foreign Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) said yesterday that Ma’s travel plans remain unchanged, but his ministry was collecting information on the spread of the disease and was evaluating all possibilities.
“If a red travel alert is issued for any of the countries that the president is planning to visit, of course he will not enter those countries,” he said.
So far, the ministry has issued a red travel alert — its most serious travel advisory alert — for Mexico, warning local travelers not to visit the country because of the spread of the swine flu from Mexico to the rest of the world.
It has issued a yellow travel alert for the US, Canada and Costa Rica, advising travelers to exercise caution when traveling to those countries.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash