The government is making last-ditch efforts to salvage diplomatic relations with Malawi, as two senior Malawian Cabinet members are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China today that will pave the way for the country to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing, government officials said yesterday.
"We have been aware of the situation in recent days, but Malawi denied it when we inquired with its government," Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (
MOFA Deputy Minister Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆) and director of the ministry's African Affairs Department, Chang Yun-ping (張雲屏), were sent to Malawi a couple of days ago to communicate with the Malawian government over the matter, Yeh said.
"Although Malawi didn't tell us its intentions, we knew that China had spent an astronomical amount of money to force Malawi to sever its diplomatic ties with Taiwan," Yeh said.
China has promised a huge sum of money to help Malawi develop its natural resources and build its public infrastructure, a MOFA official said on condition of anonymity.
A story published on Friday by the Nyasa Times, a newspaper in Malawi, said that two of Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika's senior Cabinet ministers -- Minister of Presidential and Parliamentary Affairs Davis Katsonga and Minister of Energy and Mining Henry Chimunthu Banda -- were to leave Malawi today and travel to Beijing via Bangkok accompanied by two senior officials from the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The paper said they are expected to sign a MOU paving the way for the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the two countries.
"Malawi is terminating diplomatic relations with the Republic of China [Taiwan]. The government feels it's high time that Malawi recognizes the one-China policy. After all, they are already in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, which border us," the paper quoted the Cabinet source as saying.
The paper said the Cabinet source revealed that Mutharika has sanctioned severing diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of the People's Republic of China, which has established a strong foothold in other southern African countries.
Mutharika, however, declared recently that the country would not abandon Taiwan for China.
"We have received much assistance from Taiwan and we will maintain diplomatic relations [with] Taiwan," Mutharika was on record as saying, the Nyasa Times said.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘NOT SUBORDINATE’: Only Taiwanese can decide the nation’s future, and people preserving their democratic way of life is not a provocation, President William Lai said Taiwan does not want China’s “one country, two systems,” and must uphold its freedom and democracy as well as resolve to defend itself, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, rejecting Beijing’s latest bid to bring the country under Chinese control. The president made the remarks while attending a commissioning ceremony for Taiwan’s first battalion of M1A2T Abrams tanks in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口). The tanks are made by General Dynamics, a major US defense contractor. China this week said it “absolutely will not” rule out using force over Taiwan, striking a much tougher tone than a series of articles in state media
RSS