Daniel Liao (
According to a report by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) yesterday, relations with Tuvalu were "in jeopardy" and that the ministry abruptly replaced its ambassador in a bid to thwart China's attempt to undermine Taiwan diplomatically ahead of the country's Oct. 10 National Day celebrations.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu (
Liao told Taipei Times yesterday he did not think that the appointment was unexpected and denied that the country's relations with Tuvalu was under peril, prompting the ministry's decision to replace Feng.
"I will focus on developing our friendly relations with the local people and government officials in Tuvalu," Liao said yesterday. "I think I will do a good job."
"Our diplomatic ties with Tuvalu are stable so far. There's no problem with them," he added.
Taiwan and Tuvalu will continue cooperating on promoting fishery, agriculture and medical services, according to Liao.
Liao will fly to Tuvalu on Oct. 15 and then come back to Taiwan for a swearing-in ceremony.
A high-ranking foreign ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that it was Tuvalu which had asked that Feng be replaced, telling the Taiwanese government to dispatch a "more competent" diplomat.
Lu yesterday said it was normal for diplomats to be transferred from one country to another, and Feng had accomplished his mission during the summit attended by President Chen Shui-bian (
However, Lu added, that Taiwan would be on guard against China's relentless efforts to lure away its allies.
"China has never stopped its attempts to undermine Taiwan's international space and take away our allies," Lu said.
On the eve of Chen's departure to the country's South Pacific allies earlier this year,the Liberty Times had at the time reported that one of these allies, due to China's meddling, might break off its diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
The MOFA at the time negated the report.
Liao, 51, is currently the deputy director-general of the ministry's department of international organization. He is also in charge of the country's bid to join the UN.
Liao had previously served as the director of the Culture Center of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, representative in Belize, charge d'affaires of the embassy to the Dominican Republic and coordinator of the WHO's Special Task Force.
Taipei established formal diplomatic ties with Tuvalu in 1979 and set up an embassy there in 1998. However, an ambassador was not assigned to the post until April 2004 when Feng was appointed as the country's representative. Feng is currently on vacation in Taiwan.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
RSS