Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) is next week to visit Slovakia and the Czech Republic to enhance ties with the central European countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
In Slovakia, Wu would give a keynote speech on Tuesday next week at a conference on “Resilience in a post-pandemic world” hosted by the Bratislava-based think tank GLOBSEC, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.
Wu would then travel to Prague, where he is to receive a medal from Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil to honor the minister as a special guest of the country, and meet with Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Wu would also speak at a seminar cohosted by the Czech Academy of Sciences and Prague-based think tank Sinopsis, Ou said.
Although Wu would not attend a conference organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China in Rome on Friday next week, “due to a tight schedule and each country’s COVID-19 prevention rules,” he would speak at the conference virtually, Ou said.
Wu’s European trip to two countries with which Taiwan has no official diplomatic relations is rare for a Taiwanese foreign minister, given that the countries usually face strong pressure from Beijing to prevent such trips.
The ministry did not say when Wu is expected to depart or when he would return.
Wu’s visit coincides with one by a trade delegation led by National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫).
The 66-person delegation departed on Wednesday to visit the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania, as part of the government’s efforts to boost trade and economic ties with central and east European countries. The visit ends on Saturday next week.
While Wu’s visit would not overlap with the trade delegation’s itinerary, it shares the same goals of expressing the strategic importance of Taiwan, its economic strength and its resolve to defend its democracy, Ou said.
Taiwan plays a critical role in forming a robust democratic supply chain, and in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, she added.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
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 —
RSS