The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would interact naturally with representatives of China and other nations without diplomatic ties with Taiwan at the inauguration ceremony of the newly expanded Panama Canal later this month, as it released more details of Tsai’s first overseas state visit.
“From the ministry’s understanding, China will be sending the deputy head of its Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation, who is relatively low-ranking, to attend the ceremony,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Javier Hou (侯清山) told a news conference at the Presidential Office.
Hou said Tsai is expected to have “natural interactions” with Beijing’s representative at the ceremony on June 26 in Panama, just as she would with representatives of Taiwan’s other non-diplomatic allies.
Photo: CNA
It means Tsai would not be indifferent to the representatives should they approach to say hello and might respond by giving a nod, Hou said, adding that Tsai is also likely to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of the nation’s nine diplomatic allies invited to attend the ceremony.
According to Tsai’s itinerary, she is to embark on her nine-day trip on Friday next week and arrive the next day in Panama, where she is scheduled to attend the inauguration ceremony on June 26 before departing for Paraguay the next day.
During her stay in Paraguay, Tsai is to meet with Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes and deliver a speech to the parliament, before leaving on June 30.
Tsai’s chartered plane is set to touch down at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on July 2.
The president is to be accompanied by National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Presidential Office deputy secretaries-general Jason Liu (劉建忻) and Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) and seven businesspeople from the food, solar energy, high-tech textiles and power generation sectors.
Hou said the government is hoping to demonstrate its sincerity in strengthening ties with its diplomatic allies through Tsai’s visit, which he termed the Ying Hsiang Project (英翔專案).
Given the nation’s allies’ expectations to enhance bilateral trade and investment ties, Hou said the president’s overseas visit has also set itself the mission of encouraging Taiwanese companies to make investment trips to the nations in the hopes of creating mutually beneficial relationships.
“In addition to visiting the two diplomatic allies, Tsai is also scheduled to transit through two US cities: Miami on her way to Panama and Los Angeles on her way back,” Hou said, adding that Taipei and Washington are still ironing out the details of the stops.
Asked whether China is upset by Tsai’s transit stops in the US and whether the government has sought to communicate with Beijing on the matter, Hou said Tsai’s overseas state visit is a matter for Taiwan to decide without sounding out the opinions of other nations.
“We have established a tacit understanding with the US and it is the primary nation with which we have coordinated,” Hou added.
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