Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), who usually sides with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) whenever a controversy arises, yesterday lashed out at the ministry over the use of a loan offered to Nicaragua in the purchase of South Korea-made computer durables.
Since the money for the loans comes from taxpayers, goods purchased with such government aid should generally be limited to locally produced products, Lin told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
“South Korea is the country I dislike most. Why were South Korean firms able to secure the bid and not Taiwanese firms?” Lin said.
He demanded that local enterprises have a priority in bidding for government foreign aid projects and said that he will propose cutting the budget earmarked for the ministry if it fails to address the problem.
“If local businesses collapse, you have nowhere to collect tax,” Lin told Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Ko (柯森耀), who was at the meeting to brief lawmakers on local business’ involvement in foreign aid projects.
As the committee’s co-chair, Lin scheduled yesterday’s meeting after he discovered that the computers facilities installed in an airport in Nicaragua under a Taiwanese foreign aid program were South Korean products, not Taiwanese.
According to the ministry, out of a total of NT$49.2 billion (US$1.68 billion) in foreign aid assistance loans offered between 2009 and this year, Taiwanese firms provided NT$6.1 billion, or 12 percent, of the products purchased.
Separately, Ambassador to Palau Maggie Tien (田台清) was lambasted by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) for having the KMT emblem on her business card.
Hsiao showed one of Tien’s business cards at the committee meeting.
Ko said that the ministry has set guidelines for business cards.
“If it is true that the emblem is printed on her cards, it should be removed,” Ko said.
Meanwhile, at the request of DPP lawmakers, Ko promised that the ministry would complete an investigation within one month into an allegation made by KMT Legislator Ma Wen-jun (馬文君) last week that Tien had physically abused her former Indonesian housekeeper two years ago.
Unlike most countries, Taiwan cannot use its country’s own name to compete in the Olympic Games or other major international sports events. Instead, it participates under the name “Chinese Taipei,” a name that causes confusion and sparks curiosity among many people, including an American director who explored the topic in his new documentary. Garret Clarke, the director of the 20-minute documentary What’s in a Name? A Chinese Taipei Story, said in an recent media interview said that he was motivated to make the documentary because he finds the name “Chinese Taipei” to be “weird.” The dispute that eventually created the name dates back
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to