The Executive Yuan yesterday committed US$50 million in aid to tsunami-devastated Asian countries, up from the US$5 million it had previously pledged.
"Hopefully Taiwan's love can reach out to South Asia," Vice Premier Yeh Chu-lan (
PHOTO:HSU HSIA-LIEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Details of the aid have not been finalized, but a foreign ministry official said a possible breakdown could include US$20 million worth of food, US$15 million of medicine and US$15 million in cash.
"It's time for Taiwan to give back, considering the aid we had received from international society following the Sept. 21 earthquake," foreign ministry spokesman Michel Lu (
"This aid volume would make Taiwan one of the top 10 donor countries in the world ... Taiwan people should feel proud for this," Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Kau (
The level of aid would help Taiwan's visibility in the international community, he said.
"As you may know, we are striving to join the World Health Organization. Our relief efforts are expected to be affirmed by the international community," Kau said.
Under pressure from Beijing, the WHO's assembly in May rejected Taiwan's request for a debate on it obtaining observer status at the UN agency.
Taiwan was forced out of the WHO in 1972, a year after it lost its UN seat to China.
Since 1997, Taipei's annual efforts for WHO observer status have failed due to objections from China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting unification.
The aid from Taiwan is expected to keep rising as donations collected by the ministry have increased to NT$40 million (US$1.24 million), it said.
Various charitable organizations have also stepped up money raising efforts for tsunami relief, expecting to raise at least US$10 million.
One of Taiwan's leading Buddhist organizations, Tzu Chi, has launched a program to mobilize at least 500,000 followers here and elsewhere in the world to raise money in a campaign called "Let Love Flow into South Asia; Let Sympathy Sooth Painful Suffering."
Two relief teams from Taiwan flew to Indonesia and Thailand earlier last week, taking with them tons of medical and relief supplies.
Health Minister Chen Chien-jen (
Kuo Yao-chi (
At least two Taiwanese were killed and one was missing in the massive waves, officials said.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS