The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday denied a local media report that Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) had tendered his resignation at a time when the government is under pressure to address the issue of Taiwanese businesspeople affected by anti-China riots in Vietnam last week.
“The report is totally untrue,” ministry spokeswoman Anna Kao (高安) said, adding that Lin was doing his best to deal with the issues related to the protests that have affected many Taiwanese businesspeople operating in Vietnam.
A report carried on the online version of the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) yesterday said that Lin had tendered his resignation in the face of the heavy pressure resulting from the mounting criticism of the ministry’s response to the riots, as well as the challenges of helping the Taiwanese affected by the unrest seek compensation from the Vietnamese government.
The report came after a Taiwanese delegation led by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) arrived in Vietnam earlier in the day to assist Taiwanese businesspeople in the Southeast Asian country.
The group is set to visit the areas hardest-hit in the unrest, including Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces, and meet with Taiwanese businesspeople to learn more about their needs.
The delegation is also to meet with Vietnamese authorities in Hanoi tomorrow.
A total of 224 Taiwanese companies have reported suffering damage during the anti-China riots, with 18 factories set on fire, five of which were completely destroyed, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The operations of about 1,100 Taiwanese enterprises in Vietnam have been suspended, it said.
The anti-Chinese protests erupted in southern Vietnam on May 13 over China’s placement of an oil rig near the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in the South China Sea, which it, Taiwan and Vietnam all claim.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from