DIPLOMACY
Paraguayan group arrive
Paraguayan Minister of Information and Communication Technologies Gustavo Emigdio Villate Samaniego arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a five-day visit to learn from the nation’s latest developments in the fields of technology, economy, higher education and Internet security. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which invited Villate and his delegation for the trip, said the Paraguayan delegates are scheduled to visit the Administration for Cyber Security, overseen by the Ministry of Digital Affairs, and the National Health Insurance Administration, overseen by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as well as the National Science and Technology Council, National Communications Commission and National Institute for Cyber Security during their stay until March 21. The delegates are also to visit the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute, Hsinchu Science Park, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Chunghwa Telecom and take part in two exhibitions — the Smart City Summit and Expo, and Net Zero City Expo, the ministry said. The visitors also include President of Taiwan-Paraguay Polytechnic University Jorge Daniel Duarte Rolon and Villate’s adviser Horacio Jose Caniza Vierci. Established in May 2018, the Taiwan-Paraguay Polytechnic University or Universidad Politecnica Taiwan Paraguay is a joint project with funding from Taiwan’s government.
TRADE
Sunflowers helped growth
The Sunflower movement in 2014 has paved the way for Taiwan’s economic development, an academic said on Friday ahead of the 10th anniversary of the protests against economic integration with China. The Sunflower movement was triggered by a decision by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) controlled legislature to fast-track the review and approval of the cross-strait services trade agreement with China. On March 18, hundreds of students broke into the Legislative Yuan to block the agreement and occupied it until April 10, while thousands demonstrated outside the complex. To date, the agreement with China remains stalled in the Legislature. Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research assistant researcher Wang Guo-chen (王國臣) said Taiwan’s growth rate averaged 3 percent from 2014 to last year, while Hong Kong, despite its strong economic ties with China, grew at an average rate of 1 percent. This suggests that the proposed pact between Taiwan and China would not have guaranteed improved economic conditions or provided a bigger incentive for foreign investment into Taiwan at the time, he said.
TOURISM
Tour group license revoked
The Tourism Administration has revoked the operating license of a Taipei-based tour company, We Love Tour, over a funding incident that resulted in about 300 Taiwanese tourists being stuck in Vietnam last month. The cancellation of the license followed a three-month business suspension ordered by the agency for We Love Tour on Feb. 16, after 292 Taiwanese tourists who booked with the travel firm were stranded in the Southeast Asian country on a Lunar New Year holiday tour to Phu Quoc Island. The incident resulted from a payment dispute between We Love Tour and a Vietnamese travel agency. Despite the people being flown back to Taiwan a few days later following two-way negotiations mediated by the Travel Quality Assurance Association, the Tourism Administration imposed fines totaling NT$1.46 million (US$41,212) on We Love Tour.
‘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
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