BIDEN NOD: A China watcher said that the inclusion of Taiwan is notable, as it is the only democratic state on the list that Washington does not officially recognize
Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) and Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) are to attend the US-led Summit for Democracy on Dec. 9 and 10, the government said yesterday, after US President Joe Biden announced the list of guests for the virtual event. The US Department of State on Tuesday announced a list of 110 invited participants, including Taiwan, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan and the UK. China and Russia were not invited, and Beijing expressed anger at the decision to invite Taiwan. The summit is to revolve around three key themes: Defending against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting
China said it would punish businesses and political donors with links to individuals supporting Taiwanese independence after it fined Taiwanese conglomerate Far Eastern Group (遠東集團). “Businesses and financial sponsors associated with supporters of Taiwan independence will be penalized according to law,” Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) told reporters on Monday, according to a statement from her agency. Zhu said that backers of independence undermine cross-strait relations and risk instability in the region. Zhu made the remark as she responded to a question about whether the punishment Far Eastern received earlier on Monday was connected to China’s efforts to sanction Taiwanese
‘REMAIN VIGILANT’: The CECC said that the COVID-19 situation in neighboring countries is still severe, so it is not considering easing border controls at this point
About 35,500 rooms are expected to be available at quarantine hotels and centralized quarantine facilities for Taiwanese returning to the nation from abroad between Dec. 14 and Feb. 14, up from 29,600 rooms announced previously, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) early this month said 26,000 rooms were available at quarantine hotels and that the CECC planned to make 3,600 rooms available at government quarantine facilities. The center announced the capacity expansion at an inter-ministerial meeting on COVID-19 prevention at the Executive Yuan yesterday morning. The CECC told the meeting that COVID-19 cases
DEFENSE: The new law allows the government to use a special budget to acquire mostly indigenous weapons to boost Taiwan’s anti-air and anti-surface capabilities
The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a bill authorizing the government to draft a special budget of up to NT$240 billion (US$8.63 billion) for arms procurements over the next five years. The new law allows the government to use a special budget — which is not subject to the spending constraints of the normal budgeting process — to acquire mostly indigenous weapons to upgrade the nation’s anti-air and anti-surface capabilities. The Executive Yuan would soon write a special budget based on the new law and submit it for review to lawmakers, said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), a convener of
It is unlikely that the COVID-19 alert level would be lowered soon, as the virus survives longer in cold weather, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday, although he added that it is possible restrictions might be loosened further. Home quarantine rules would be relaxed for people in special circumstances, Chen told the daily news conference of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), which he heads. Previously, people wanting to visit a sick relative or handle funeral arrangements had to apply to leave home quarantine once per day for up to two hours after presenting a negative polymerase chain
CLOSER TIES: The leader of a five-member delegation of US representatives said he hopes that official visits to Taiwan would become ‘business as usual again’
The leader of a US congressional delegation to Taiwan praised the nation as a “force for good” in the world during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday, and said that under her administration, ties with the US were more productive than in prior decades. The five members of the US House of Representatives arrived on Thursday night for a two-day trip, the second time in a month that US lawmakers have visited. Speaking during a meeting with Tsai at the Presidential Office, US Representative Mark Takano, who chairs the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said the lawmakers were in the
The Philippine military yesterday defiantly redeployed two supply boats to provide food to Filipino marines guarding a disputed shoal in the South China Sea after the Chinese coast guard last week used water cannons to forcibly turn the boats away in an assault that drew angry condemnation and warnings from Manila. Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana said the two civilian wooden-hulled boats carrying navy personnel left western Palawan province and should reach the marines stationed on a navy ship at Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) after an overnight trip. Lorenzana said
JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive officer Jamie Dimon on Tuesday quipped that his company is likely to outlast the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), while reiterating the bank’s commitment to the country in wide-ranging comments that also touched on Taiwan, free speech and former US president Donald Trump. “We hope to be there [in China] for a long time,” Dimon told a panel discussion at the Boston College Chief Executives Club. Relaying a “joke” he made during a recent visit to Hong Kong, he said “The communist party is celebrating its 100th year. So is JPMorgan. And I’ll make you a
The WHO has warned that the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 might reinfect people who had recovered from COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The CECC on Friday announced that effective tomorrow, travelers from southern Africa, where the variant was first detected — South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe — would need to quarantine for 14 days in a centralized facility after arriving in Taiwan. The move followed similar requirements other countries imposed on travelers from those states. Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, yesterday said that preliminary evidence suggests that
Taiwanese actress Big S, also known as Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), and Chinese restaurateur Wang Xiaofei (汪小菲) officially announced their divorce yesterday, stating the decision was cordial and that they would be raising their two children together. The statement came by proxy through the couple’s legal counsel, filed by both Wang and Hsu. Hsu and Wang thanked fans for their love and support, with the couple saying that fate had blessed them with a time of happiness, and that they were grateful for their time together. They said that while they walked hand-in-hand as husband and wife, they would continue a cordial relationship as
The European Commission said it does not consider the opening of a Taiwanese representative office in Lithuania a breach of the EU’s “one China” policy, after Beijing downgraded its diplomatic ties with Vilnius because of the move. “We have made clear in contacts with China and in public statements that this is predominantly a bilateral matter between China and Lithuania, but also since the summer, the EU has stood by Lithuania in the face of sustained coercive measures from China,” a European Commission spokesperson said on Sunday. China downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania on Sunday, after Taiwan opened a “Taiwanese Representative Office
UNCERTAIN COURSE: It remains to be seen whether the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 would replace the globally dominant Delta variant, a US professor said
Australia and several other countries joined nations imposing restrictions on travel from southern Africa yesterday after the discovery of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 sparked global concern and triggered market sell-offs. Omicron, dubbed a “variant of concern” by the WHO, is potentially more contagious than previous variants of the disease. It could take weeks for scientists to fully understand the new variant’s mutations and whether existing vaccines and treatments are effective against it. Omicron is the fifth variant of concern designated by the WHO. The variant was first discovered in South Africa and has since been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong
DESTABILIZING: Beijing’s efforts to choke Taiwan, pressure its friends and hamper its democracy are a threat to the world, AIT Director Sandra Oudkirk said
China’s provocative military activities near Taiwan are destabilizing and risk “miscalculation,” American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Sandra Oudkirk said yesterday, reiterating the US’ objection to any unilateral changes to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait. Oudkirk made the remarks in a speech at the annual conference of the Association of International Relations in Taipei. “In the Indo-Pacific region, America’s effort to resolve and manage differences with the leadership of the People’s Republic of [PRC] faces distinct challenges,” she said, referencing a range of actions by China that she said run counter to the shared values and interests of the
FOUR-WAY ELECTION? Washington told the presidential hopefuls not to abandon Taiwan, drawing thanks from Taipei, but prompting Beijing to label the US a ‘bully’
A visiting US delegation on Wednesday made clear to both of the leading presidential candidates in Honduras’ election on Sunday that Washington wants the country to maintain its long-standing diplomatic relations with Taiwan, a senior US Department of State official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said that Washington has warned Central American nations of “some of the risks associated with China’s approach to the region.” Xiomara Castro, the main opposition candidate, who was leading in the latest polls, has previously said that if victorious, she would switch diplomatic relations from Taiwan to Beijing, but one of her aides
‘MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION’: Taiwan is an important partner of the Netherlands in business and combating global crime, and its request was legitimate, a motion said
The Dutch House of Representatives on Tuesday adopted a motion supporting Taiwan’s participation in the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). Proposed by Dutch lawmakers of parliament Agnes Mulder and Kees van der Staaij, the motion was passed in a 149-0 vote, with one absentee, the Taipei Representative Office in the Netherlands said in a news statement. The motion referred to Taiwan as an important partner of the Netherlands in business and combating global crime, and said that Taiwan’s request for meaningful participation in Interpol was legitimate. It also urged the Dutch government to work with other countries to explore ways to support Taiwan
Liberal democracy and communist autocracy are at the initial stages of a historic battle. Taipei has chosen its side in this fight and has sought to frame “cross-strait relations” as an international issue, while Beijing says that Taiwan is an “internal issue” and a hangover from the Chinese Civil War. Taiwan’s status as a nation has new clarity and the international community is beginning to defend Taiwan’s democracy. The Washington Post has praised Taiwan’s diplomatic achievements and Australian Minister for Defence Peter Dutton has said that it would be inconceivable for Australia not to join Taiwan and the US in a conflict with
The New Taipei City Police Department has seized 446.8kg of heroin and arrested 13 people in the country’s biggest-ever bust involving the substance, law enforcement officials said yesterday. Police on Oct. 20 raided a warehouse in the city’s Taishan District (泰山) after receiving a tip that the facility was being used to stockpile drugs, New Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office Lead Prosecutor Chen Hsu-hua (陳旭華) told a news conference at police headquarters in Banciao District (板橋). Logs in the warehouse were found to have compartments that contained 1,172 bricks of heroin that could sell for NT$5 billion (US$179.9 million), Chen said. After questioning suspects
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) yesterday said he would not sing in public for a while, as his mood for singing has been affected by a controversial video of him that circulated online earlier this month. Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), made the remark at a Taiwan Association of University Professors’ Thanksgiving fundraiser in Taipei yesterday. The clip, which began circulating on Nov. 10, shows him singing indoors without a mask, which led to accusations that he had contravened COVID-19 prevention rules during a nationwide level 3 pandemic alert. However, as the video was recorded on
At a time when China continues its assertive policy toward its neighboring countries, the regime of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Bhutan last month to resolve a longstanding border dispute. However, this is not the first time China and Bhutan have taken such efforts on this issue. Over the years, China has expanded its claim over territory in Bhutan. China claims over 764km2 of Bhutan’s territory, which includes Doklam, Sinchulung, Dramana and Shakhatoe in the northwestern region and the Pasamlung and Jakarlung Valleys in the central part of Bhutan. Although the two sides held
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