DIPLOMACY
St Lucia delegation arrives
Saint Lucian Minister of Commerce Emma Hippolyte is leading a delegation on a six-day trip to Taiwan starting yesterday to enhance bilateral trade and investment relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Hippolyte’s delegation also includes Saint Lucian Ministry of Commerce Permanent Secretary Sophia Alfay-Henry and Export Saint Lucia chief executive Sunita Daniel, who represents the country’s national trade export and promotion agency, the ministry said. During their stay until Friday, the delegates are to visit the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Digital Affairs and Taiwan External Trade Development Council, among other places. It is the second time Hippolyte has visited Taiwan, it added. Saint Lucia is one of the nation’s four diplomatic allies in the Caribbean, together with Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and one of 12 sovereign states that have diplomatic ties with Taipei.
DISASTER RELIEF
Nation helps Guatemala
The government on Saturday pledged to donate US$300,000 in relief supplies to Guatemala in the wake of the devastation caused by a wildfire on the slopes of the dormant Agua volcano. The Guatemalan government described the situation as urgent and has called for the international community to help with disaster relief efforts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. As a longtime friend and a diplomatic ally of Guatemala, the government immediately made arrangements to donate US$300,000 in supplies to help the Central American nation, it said. Taiwan’s technical mission in Guatemala and several Taiwanese expatriates have already donated 30 safety helmets, six sets of wireless electrical equipment and 1,000 packs of instant noodles to help with the country’s disaster relief efforts, the ministry added.
CRIME
Three arrested in Cambodia
Three Taiwanese found with 16kg of MDMA and its precursors have been arrested in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. It said it received a report of the trio’s arrest from its liaison office in Vietnam. The office said that Cambodian drug enforcement agents arrested the Taiwanese men and seized the MDMA and its precursors as well as a batch of drug packaging tools at a house in Phnom Penh on Thursday. The CIB said it would exchange information with its counterparts in Cambodia to find out the source, intended distribution and whether Taiwan was an intended destination. The three men involved are surnamed Chuang (莊), Wu (吳) and Lin (林), with the former two wanted for fraud in Taiwan. They are to stand trial in Cambodia under local laws and be deported from the country after legal procedures, the CIB said.
CULINARY
Sophomore wins gold
Wang Yu-hsiang (王宥翔), a sophomore at the Department of Culinary Arts and Hotel Management at Hungkuang University in Taichung, has won a gold and bronze medal at the IKA/Culinary Olympics in Stuttgart, Germany, held from Feb. 3 to Feb. 7. Wang clinched the gold medal in the individual classic fruit and vegetable carving category and bronze in the live carving category, department dean Wu Sung-lien (吳松濂) said. Hsu Kai-tun (許凱敦), an associate professor at the university, won silver in the culinary art category, Wu added. Wang said his pumpkin carving work featured images of popular deities from Taiwan, including the sea goddess Matsu.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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