The reason Sao Tomean President Manuel Pinto da Costa is not able to host President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on his upcoming visit to Africa is because he will be overseas.
Ma’s scheduled visit to the African island nation coincides with Pinto da Costa’s visit to Cuba, Sao Tomean Foreign Minister Manuel Salvador dos Ramos was quoted as saying on Tuesday by Diario Vitrina, a daily newspaper in Sao Tome and Principe.
The minister assured the daily that the cancelation of Ma’s visit was because of a scheduling conflict, the report said.
In Taipei, a government official, who asked to remain anonymous, said Sao Tome gave Taipei the same reason when explaining why Pinto da Costa would not be able to receive Ma.
The newspaper said Salvador dos Ramos denied that Pinto da Costa’s administration intended to rebuild ties with China, saying the country was on good terms with Taiwan and that he had reiterated to Taiwanese Ambassador Cheng Yu-tai (程豫台) its readiness to strengthen friendship and cooperation.
Sao Tome and Principe was dropped on March 27 from the itinerary of Ma’s 12-day visit to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Africa, which begins on Saturday.
The last-minute change came two weeks after the Presidential Office had made public an itinerary that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began arranging earlier this year.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) yesterday reaffirmed that bilateral ties with Sao Tome remain stable.
Asked for comment, Yen Chen-shen (嚴震生), a research fellow at National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, said the unavailability of Pinto da Costa to host Ma has more implications for bilateral ties than just a scheduling issue.
That Pinto da Costa scheduled an overseas trip when Ma would be in Africa indicated he has some issues with Taipei, but a visit to Cuba was “an act of diplomacy,” Yen said.
It was a “reasonable arrangement” that Pinto da Costa opted to travel to Cuba when he apparently did not want to meet with Ma because Cuba has been on good terms with African countries that used to be Portuguese colonies, he said.
Yen said a visit to Cuba rather than another country would make the unavailability of Pinto da Costa to host Ma “less offensive,” but it was still a gesture of his intention to switch ties from Taipei to Beijing, especially when all other issues are considered — he is a left-wing politician who maintained diplomatic ties with China when he served as the first president of Sao Tome and Principe from 1975 to 1991.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we