President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will not request that special forces provide protection for the Dalai Lama during his six-day visit to Taiwan, the Presidential Office said yesterday, despite concerns over the safety of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said there was a “consensus among government agencies” that they would use police rather than a special detail to ensure the safety of the Buddhist leader.
The Measure Regarding the Special Operations of the National Security Bureau (國家安全局特種勤務實施辦法) states that the protection objectives of the special detail include the president, vice president and their families; former presidents and former vice presidents; presidential and vice presidential candidates and their families. At his discretion, the president can ask that the detail provide security for other dignitaries.
A group of demonstrators believed to be gangsters protested close to the Taipei High Speed Rail after the Dalai Lama’s arrival in Taiwan on Sunday, raising concern about his safety.
Chang An-le (張安樂), the fugitive former leader of the Bamboo Union gang known as the “White Wolf,” said in a TV interview in China that he detested the Dalai Lama’s “political tactics” of capitalizing on disaster in Taiwan, vowing to mobilize his followers to protest against the Buddhist leader should he engage in any political activity, including public speeches.
The Democratic Progressive Party yesterday criticized the administration for failing to prevent gangsters from harassing the Dalai Lama, while providing massive amounts of security during the visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) in November last year.
Wang said Ma would not meet the Dalai Lama during his visit.
The spiritual leader of the Tibetan government in exile arrived on Sunday and is scheduled to leave on Friday.
The Dalai Lama also said on Monday that he would not meet Ma because he did not have a political agenda and didn’t want to “create inconveniences [for] anybody.”
Then-Taipei mayor Ma met the Dalai Lama in 2001. At the time, Ma presented him the key to Taipei and said “Taipei City always welcomes you.”
After taking office as president in May last year, Ma rejected a proposed trip by the Dalai Lama last December, saying the timing was “inappropriate.”
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit this time marks his third trip to Taiwan. He first visited Taiwan in 1997.
The Presidential Office approved the visit on Aug. 26, saying the decision was based on religious and humanitarian considerations.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
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
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS