Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) is to make a rare high-level ministerial trip to the UK this week, when she is expected to visit government departments and meet a company specializing in low Earth orbit satellites, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday.
Taiwan views the UK as an important democratic partner despite the lack of formal ties, noting its concern over stepped-up Chinese military activities near the island and its support for Taiwan’s participation in global bodies such as the WHO.
Tang is to attend London Tech Week and is expected to visit the British Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
Tang would also visit OneWeb, which specializes in low Earth orbit satellites, and hopes to bolster Taiwan’s communications resilience plans, the ministry said.
The government has been looking at plans to preserve communications in the even of a Chinese invasion, including satellites in medium and low Earth orbit for Internet services, similar to Ukraine’s use of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband service.
Tang hopes to use her UK trip to deepen cooperation on government information security, investment and overall Taiwan-UK relations, the ministry said.
Separately, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) is expected to travel to Europe this week, where he would attend a security forum in Prague, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
At the invitation of Czech-based think tank the European Values Center for Security Policy (EVC), Wu is to give a speech titled “One Theater, One World and One Vision,” which would focus on both countries’ shared democratic values and human rights as well as their close partnership during the one-day summit, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
It did not provide any other details on Wu’s upcoming visit, including whether he would meet with Czech President Petr Pavel, who is scheduled to open the summit.
Wu previously visited the Czech Republic in October 2021 as part of a trip that also took him to Slovakia.
According to the EVC Web site, this year’s summit would be its ninth edition focused on security policy.
The previous European Values Summit was held in November last year.
In other developments, the air force scrambled jets yesterday after detecting 10 Chinese warplanes crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
This is the second time in less than a week that renewed Chinese military activity has been reported, after 37 Chinese military aircraft on Thursday flew into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, some of which then flew into the Western Pacific.
In a short statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that as of 2pm yesterday, it had detected 24 Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force planes, including J-10, J-11, J-16 and Su-30 fighters, as well as H-6 bombers.
It did not specify where the aircraft flew, but said 10 had crossed the median line, which separates the two countries and had previously served as an unofficial barrier.
China said that it does not recognize the line and has been routinely crossing it since last year.
Four Chinese naval ships were also engaged in “joint combat readiness patrols,” the defense ministry added, without giving details.
Additional reporting by CNA
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS