The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it would endeavor to consolidate its ties with the nation’s last remaining African ally, Eswatini, to the best of its ability after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) pledged US$60 billion in financial support for projects in Africa.
Asked whether the ministry is worried the financial support could affect Taiwan’s 50 years of relations with Eswatini Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Liu Bang-zyh (劉邦治) said the money would certainly create pressure on Eswatini.
“The ministry will keep a close eye on the issue, while doing our best to strengthen our relations with the African nation,” Liu told a routine news conference in Taipei.
Xi made the pledges at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on Monday in Beijing, which was attended by representatives from the 53 African nations that have formal diplomatic relations with China.
The financial support is to be provided in the form of loans, investment and government assistance, Xi said, adding that China would also write off its interest-free loans to indebted African nations that are not paid off by the end of this year.
Liu said to his knowledge, Eswatini did not receive an invitation to the forum, despite Beijing’s repeatedly stated determination to bring the nation into its fold.
“I believe our ties with Eswatini are strong at the moment,” Liu said, citing as an example the participation of seven Taiwanese companies at the ongoing 11-day Eswatini International Trade Fair in Manzini.
In November, the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association is to lead an agricultural business scouting delegation to Eswatini at the behest of the government, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has endeavored to keep its last African ally as China has stepped up efforts to poach Taiwan’s diplomatic allies.
Beijing has converted five former Taiwanese allies in the past two years.
Tsai in April instructed the National Security Council to propose an “Africa Project” to increase the nation’s presence in Africa after concluding her state visit to Eswatini that month.
The ministry has also earmarked more than NT$600 million (US$19.5 million) in diplomatic spending for West Asia and Africa next year, an increase of almost NT$400 million, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported on Saturday.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS