The next representative to Sweden, Vincent Yao (姚金祥), yesterday said he would boost bilateral trade relations as well as collaborations with Europe and the US over 5G network industry when he takes up his new post this month.
Yao has been director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of North American Affairs since December 2018.
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston Director-General Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) is to replace Yao at the department.
Photo: CNA
Yao told a news briefing that his work over the past two decades had mostly focused on North American affairs.
His new post would be his first assignment in Europe and he looks forward to new challenges, Yao said.
While imports and exports from Sweden are fairy balanced, the nation has been unable to reciprocate Sweden’s enthusiasm for investment in Taiwan, he said.
Bilateral trade last year totaled nearly US$1.31 billion, and Taiwan was Sweden’s sixth-largest Asian trading partner, Yao said, citing statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Foreign Trade.
Bilateral trade has been growing year on year since 2015, Yao said.
Swedish support, such as backing the nation’s bid to participate in the World Health Assembly as an observer, has been growing and is a solid foundation for warm bilateral relations, he said.
Stockholm-based IT giant Ericsson is collaborating with Taiwan over 5G,while Chunghwa Telecom used technology developed by Ericsson as it introduced commercial 5G networks on June 30, he said.
The ties could be expanded to form a 5G collaboration between Taiwan, the US and Europe, he said.
In related news, the ministry announced some diplomatic personnel changes.
Former grand justice Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發) has been appointed as representative to the WTO, it said.
Former Straits Exchange Foundation chairwoman Katharine Chang (張小月) is to replace Vanessa Shih (史亞平) as representative to Austria, while Shih is to chair the foreign ministry’s Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs, the foreign ministry said.
The ministry has faced criticism, as the nation’s representative to the WTO, one of the few international bodies in which Taiwan has official membership, has been vacant since September last year.
Lo’s familiarity with international economic law, WTO legal affairs and international trade law means he is more than qualified for the position, the foreign ministry said.
In 2008, Lo was appointed as a member of the Permanent Group of Experts at the WTO’s Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and in 2006 was a panelist on the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body, it said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
RSS