Former Examination Yuan vice president Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) is expected to replace Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) as representative to Japan when Hsieh steps down this year, sources said yesterday.
Lee, 69, has also served as head of the Civil Service Protection and Training Commission, senior adviser to the Presidential Office under former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), minister of the interior and head of the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration during the tenure of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Commenting on the possible appointment, Taiwan Society of Japan Studies chairman Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁) said that President William Lai (賴清德) trusts Lee, someone Japan would also feel confident about.
Photo: Taipei Times file
“Taiwan-Japan relations have been stable over the past eight years under Hsieh, and economic exchanges between Taiwan and Japan have become more frequent,” Kuo said, citing the establishment of a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) factory in Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture.
However, Lee might face challenges in the areas of business and politics, he said.
For example, Lee has no experience in industry, which could make it difficult for him to interact with and establish connections in the Japanese business community, Chen said.
Photo: Taipei Times file
In terms of politics, it is still unclear whether Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would retain his position as head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) when it holds its leadership election in September, Kuo said.
“However, the relationship between the Democratic Progressive Party and the LDP has become very close, and it should not be a problem for Taiwan, even if the LDP changes leadership,” he said.
In related news, Lai yesterday recognized late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe for “always lending a helping hand to Taiwan when it was in need,” in a video commemorating the former leader, who was assassinated while giving a speech in Nara, Japan, on July 8, 2022.
“His memory, and Taiwan’s gratitude toward him, will live on forever. It is Taiwan’s pineapple production season, which reminds me of Abe’s smile when he was promoting Taiwanese pineapples,” Lai said.
Abe had advocated for a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Lai said, adding that those ideas had a profound effect on international attention toward Taiwan and the region.
Separately, Hao Pei-chih (郝培芝), head of the Civil Service Protection and Training Commission, is expected to replace Francois Wu (吳志中) as representative to France, a source said yesterday.
Hao, who received her master’s degree and doctorate in political science at Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University, previously served as a member of the advisory committee at the Mainland Affairs Council from 2007 to 2009.
During Wu’s tenure, the French National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in support of Taiwan’s participation in international organizations. Wu has also been highly praised by legislators from both the ruling and opposition parties in Taiwan.
Hao would likely face great challenges with the increasing influence of far-right parties in French politics, the source said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it could not yet confirm who Hsieh’s or Wu’s replacements would be.
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify
BOLSTERING DEFENSE: The explosive is 40 percent more powerful than those in use and could be deployed for Hsiung Feng II and III missiles, a government source said The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has developed a polycyclic nitroamine explosive, commonly known as CL-20, which is the most powerful non-nuclear explosive known, a government source said yesterday on condition of anonymity. The institute has significantly improved explosive and rocket propellant research and development in recent years, the source said. A new factory was established in June 2022 with NT$540 million (US$16.6 million) in equipment installed, the source said. A central complex that would house 50-gallon (189 liters) and 300-gallon (1,136 liters) explosive mixer machines, as well as a storage device, was constructed in the factory, the institute said. The explosive is