A Taiwanese embassy formally opened yesterday in Kiribati, the tiny Pacific island nation that is Taiwan's newest diplomatic ally.
Attending the event were Kiribati President Anote Tong and Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
Taiwan established diplomatic ties with Kiribati -- the first country each day to greet the sun -- on Nov. 7 last year.
Tong held a closed-door meeting with Chien prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the embassy to discuss cooperation programs.
Having received President Chen Shui-bian's (
"We are very much a developing country," Tong said. "Nevertheless, we also hope to offer something [to Taiwan] in return."
Tong said he hoped Taiwanese businesspeople would find investment opportunities in Kiribati and that the two countries can carry out cultural exchanges.
Home to less than 100,000 people, Kiribati became independent from the UK in 1979.
The country until recently was home to a satellite station owned by China, which severed ties with Kiribati several weeks after Taiwan and Kiribati established diplomatic relations.
Chien, in his speech at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, thanked the Kiribati government for its generosity in choosing to locate the embassy in an area that is home to important government buildings.
The embassy is situated only hundreds of meters away from the former Chinese embassy. Chinese officials have left the country. Only a few caretakers remain in the embassy, one of the nicest buildings in Kiribati.
Tong said the site for the Taiwanese embassy is a historical one. It used to be the site of the British High Commission. It is also located close to the Kiribati government's headquarters.
Tong said he hoped that living arrangements close to the Taiwanese Embassy could be procured for embassy staff.
Tong and Chien both expressed appreciation of the efforts of Samuel Chen (
Chien also said it is a good thing that Samuel Chen's wife, Leigh Chen (
Samuel Chen, who worked non-stop through the Christmas and New Year's holidays to supervise construction of the embassy, said that he had gone through considerable hardship in getting accustomed to life in this remote land.
Although a one-way trip from Taiwan to Kiribati takes nearly 24 hours, Samuel Chen said he did not feel particularly lonely or homesick on the island, which currently has no Taiwanese immigrants.
The ambassador said his greatest challenge is getting used to the weather.
"It is very hot here," Samuel Chen said. "I often sweat profusely.
"The work is hard here. But I feel very proud when I realize that the hard work has cemented Taiwan's ties with Kiribati," he said.
Samuel Chen also said that Taiwan had dispatched business and agricultural teams to Kiribati to help with cooperation programs.
"It is a very special and rare experience to open a new embassy," the ambassador said.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS