An inter-ministerial meeting will be held to discuss when to stop scholarship payments to Sao Tomean students studying in Taiwan, including the children of the African nation’s president, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
Speaking at a routine news conference at the ministry yesterday morning, International Cooperation and Development Fund Deputy Secretary-General Lee Pai-po (李柏浡) said there are 68 Sao Tomean students in Taiwan who are receiving scholarship payments from the foreign ministry, the Ministry of Education or the fund.
They include the daughter and son of Sao Tome and Principe President Evaristo Carvalho.
Carvalho’s daughter is a graduate student at National Yang Ming University, while his son is reportedly a doctoral student of information technology at National Chengchi University.
However, the university on Wednesday said that Carvalho’s son suspended his studies last year.
“We will discuss the situation of 68 [Sao Tomean] students and lay out some principles. We might [keep providing scholarship] until they finish a semester or a year of studies,” Lee said.
Lee added that despite the pending termination of scholarship payments, Sao Tomean students would still be permitted to finish their studies if they pay their own tuition.
He made the remarks one day after Sao Tome and Principe, a nation with a population of about 200,000, announced that it is cutting 19-year-old diplomatic ties with Taiwan, reducing the number of Taipei’s diplomatic allies to 21.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) on Wednesday said that Taipei’s denial of the African nation’s request for an “astronomical amount of financial aid” prompted the decision, while political parties attributed the incident to China and the government’s cross-strait policy.
Lee said the fund has a team of experts and a special project in Sao Tome and Principe that involve four professionals, two family members and five substitute military personnel, who would be withdrawn in two stages.
As for Taiwan’s property and assets in the African nation, Lee said they worth approximately NT$1.7 million (US$53,075) and the government is inclined to donate them to local organizations it has cooperated with.
With regard to the removal of Taiwan’s embassy in Sao Tome, foreign ministry spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said there are four officials at the embassy, adding that there is no timetable for the removal process, but it would be completed as soon as possible.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS