President Chen Shui-bian (
"Not only did we consolidate the friendship with our diplomatic allies, we also engaged in a wide range of substantive talks and were warmly received by non-allied countries. We've gathered an abundant harvest from this overseas visit, which has laid the groundwork for the expansion of Taiwan's future international participation," Chen said yesterday.
The president made the remarks immediately after his chartered plane touched down at CKS International Airport at 3:30pm yesterday.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Thousands of Chen's supporters, as well as political bigwigs including Vice President Annette Lu (
Reversals
That warm reception came after a journey filled with dramatic reversals. Chen at the last minute rejected the US' offer to transit through Anchorage, Alaska after failing to secure longer, higher-profile visits to major US cities such as New York City or Los Angeles.
Instead, he made diplomatic advances by transiting through non-allied countries such as Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Tripoli, Libya and Batam Island, Indonesia.
The president said the point of his journey was to safeguard the country's dignity and strive for diplomatic breakthroughs.
"As a president representing Taiwan, I can't let Taiwan's dignity be undermined. We did not disappoint Taiwan and make it lose face ... no matter how great the pressure is, we will never give up," the president said.
Chen emphasized that the transit spat between the US and Taiwan would not hurt the future bilateral relations.
"Although we did not transit through the US, both Taiwan and the US have continued to have smooth communication, and have engaged in direct and immediate dialogue to reach a high level of consensus on the direction of future work and our common interests," the president said.
"The foundation of Taiwan-US relations remains strong, and was not affected by temporary disturbances and outside suspicions," the president stated yesterday.
During his visit to Latin America, Chen made a state visit to Paraguay and attended Costa Rican President Oscar Alias' inauguration ceremony. He met with US first lady Laura Bush and several US congressmen who expressed their support for Chen amid his diplomatic struggles.
Libyan stop
The biggest advance of Chen's trip was a surprise visit on Wednesday to Libya. Chen confirmed yesterday that he met with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, and that the two signed a memorandum of understanding to establish mutual representative offices and to expand bilateral commercial relations.
The president yesterday said that Qaddafi had personally given him two reasons why Libya resisted China's opposition and insisted on extending to Chen and his delegation the highest diplomatic courtesy.
First, the Libyan leader said that China itself engaged in a great deal of business activity with Taiwan, and therefore it was implausible for Beijing to try to stop Libya from having contact with Taiwan.
Second, China's military maintains relations with Israel, which is considered an enemy of the Islamic world. This has annoyed Libya and only furthered its determination to engage with Taiwan, Chen said Qaddafi told him.
Addressing a jubilant crowd of supporters outside the airport, Chen yesterday reaffirmed his determination to maximize the opportunities to increase the country's diplomatic space.
"My conclusion is: if Taiwan wants to stand up and step out in the international community, we have to make our own way. Where there is a will, there is a way ... because we are the uncrushable roses," said the president.
Defending huang
Chen yesterday also defended foreign minister James Huang (
"If the minister ever lied, I believe he did not do it on purpose. It is because he wanted to achieve a `mission impossible.' Besides, diplomats are accorded with the privilege to lie. Although there are voices asking him to step down, I've decided that he will not go," Chen said via broadcast intercom in his chartered plane shortly after its landing in Taipei.
also see story:
Taiwan, Libya ties not our business: US
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
RSS