Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang's (
Michel Lu (呂慶龍), spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), made the remarks in response to a report by the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday which said that Huang had met with Hezbollah's secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah when he paid a clandestine visit to Lebanon in April.
Lu stressed that Huang met with several Lebanese officials -- including Hezbollah officials -- who have significant influence in the Lebanese government.
"The visit in April was made in a different context -- when there wasn't a war yet between Israel and Lebanon ... Hezbollah is a legal party in Lebanon, with two members currently serving in the Cabinet and holding one-third of the seats in parliament," Lu said.
"The minister's visit was purely a courtesy call. There's no need to read too much significance into the meeting," Lu said, stressing that the government opposes any form of terrorism and would not get in the way of a conflict between Israel and Lebanon.
Lu said that US and Israeli authorities did voice their concern after the meeting.
"We simply explained that Taiwan wants to develop ties with Lebanon and that [the meeting] does not mean that the country supports terrorism. After our explanation, the US and Israeli government did not make any further inquiries," Lu said.
Despite Lu's comments, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday demanded Huang's resignation, saying his meeting with the terrorist leader had damaged the nation's image.
"James Huang should step down immediately as a way of apologizing to the people for damaging Taiwan's image abroad because of his association with terrorists," KMT caucus whip Tsai Chin-lung (
"James Huang first associated with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and now Nasrallah. No wonder Taiwan has been retreating in defeat in the international community," Tsai said.
"The fact that Huang's meeting with Nasrallah was used as propaganda by Hezbollah on its Web site might create a misperception that Taiwan supports terrorism," he said.
KMT Legislator Joanna Lei (
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) came to Huang's defense, saying that the minister never expected there would be a war between Lebanon and Israel, adding that Huang was trying to expand Taiwan's diplomatic space.
"That is Taiwan's diplomatic dilemma. We hope that the Taiwanese people could see that it is China that is forcing Taiwan to do this," Yeh said.
Yeh said that the international society should realize that China's "gangster" tactics have given Taiwan no alternative but to make friends with certain countries.
"We hope that the international society could give Taiwan the basic dignity that a member of global village deserves and not overlook the fact that China has been squeezing Taiwan's space," she said.
Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS