Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and former Slovenian Prime Minister Ivan Jansa are among those set to speak at the annual Yushan Foreign in Taipei from Monday to Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
Other big names appearing at the Taiwan government- funded forum include Czech Republic Senator Pavel Fischer, former Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga, and former Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Mantas Adomenas, MOFA said in a news release.
Former Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement, and veteran Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya, who chairs the 270-member Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council, will also join the event, it added.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
President William Lai (賴清德) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) will both speak at the forum today, MOFA said.
The eighth edition of the Yushan Forum this year will expand the concept of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy to include more global partners, it said.
The New Southbound Policy was launched by former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2016 to promote trade and investment, and people-to-people ties with 18 countries in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.
The countries originally targeted by the New Southbound Policy were Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Australia, and New Zealand.
This year the Yushan Forum is to be held under the theme of “New Southbound Policy+: Taiwan, the Indo- Pacific, and a New World.”
MOFA said that this year’s forum aims to include more like-minded partners in discussions on how Taiwan is taking advantage of smart, digital and innovative, solutions to promote the so-called “Digital New Southbound Policy.”
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese