Prince Buhlebenkhosi Dlamini, one of the numerous children of King Mswati III of Eswatini, expressed his love for Taiwan during his graduation from Shih Chien University in Taipei yesterday, saying that he has decided to stay in Taiwan for further studies.
Dlamini, who received a bachelor’s degree from the university’s English-language International Business and Trade program, delivered a speech in Mandarin and English as the school valedictorian at a graduation ceremony at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
“This is an important day for all of us. Many challenges await us after graduation, but Shih Chien has fully prepared us for them,” Dlamini said in Mandarin.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The ceremony was also attended by the king, his second wife, Inkhosikati LaMotsa, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮).
“As I wish everyone a bright future, I also want to tell you that I like Shih Chien and I love Taiwan,” he said, adding that he would pursue a postgraduate degree at the school.
One of Dlamini’s younger brothers is also planning to apply to Shih Chien, school president Michael Chen (陳振貴) said.
There have been concerns that Dlamini’s departure after graduation could increase the chances that Eswatini — Taiwan’s sole dilomatic African ally — would sever ties with the nation, but these seem to have abated with the prince’s decision to stay in Taiwan.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) has publicly called on Eswatini to follow in the footsteps of Burkina Faso, which switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China late last month, before September’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing.
In his speech, the king expressed his gratitude to Shih Chien for turning his son, who he said could hardly focus on his studies and required discipline before he left home, into a “dedicated, humble and obedient student” in four years.
“There are over 250 Swazi students at various institutions [in Taiwan] who are acquiring first-world education. We look forward to their return home to make a meaningful impact on our development,” the king said.
Thanking the Taiwanese government for affording education opportunities to Swazi citizens, the king expressed the hope that the high-quality education they receive would contribute to the transformation of the African nation’s economy and its attainment of first-world status.
He also stressed the solidity of Taiwan-Eswatini ties, saying the two nations would remain good friends for generations to come.
In recognition of the king’s continuous support for Taiwan, Shih Chien conferred him an honorary doctorate degree in management.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
RSS