Taiwan’s eight-member legislative delegation to the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump has received invitations to watch the livestream of the event in Capital One Arena, one of the lawmakers said yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and Taiwan’s representative office to the US secured four tickets to watch the inauguration livestream in a VIP room in the arena.
Those four tickets will go the leader of the delegation, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿) of the Taiwan People’s Party, and himself, Wang said.
Photo courtesy of Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Wang Ting-yu via CNA
The other four lawmakers in the delegation, Chen Kuan- ting (陳冠廷) and Kuo Yu-ching (郭昱晴) of the DPP and Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) and Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) of the KMT, will be watching the livestream inside the arena, Wang said.
In a Facebook post, Wang also posted a group photograph showing himself and his fellow lawmakers riding on the Washington Metro system heading to the arena for the event.
Due to sub-zero temperatures forecast for Washington yesterday, Trump’s inauguration ceremony was moved to inside the Capitol Rotunda instead of on the steps of the Capitol, leading to a significant reduction of the number of guests at the ceremony.
MOFA said last week that the Capitol Rotunda will accommodate only a limited number of attendees, mainly members of Congress, senior government officials and Trump’s family.
Therefore, many international guests, including the Taiwan delegation, would not be able to attend the inauguration ceremony, 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
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
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,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS