Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of International Affairs Director Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) yesterday alleged that China was behind Cairo barring former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) from entering Egypt even though she had a visa.
Hsiao, vice president of Liberal International (LI) who just returned from an LI Congress in Cairo, said yesterday that the Egyptian organizer, the Democratic Front Party, asked the Egyptian foreign ministry to tell the DPP, an LI member, that Cairo would not let Lu enter the country.
Hsiao said Beijing threatened to cancel a planned visit by the Chinese foreign minister to Cairo if Egypt allowed Lu to attend the LI congress because China did not want the two to be in Cairo at the same time.
Hsiao said the DPP later found out that it was Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) who visited Cairo.
Expecting Cairo to deny Lu’s entry should she make the trip, Hsiao said the party decided to cancel Lu’s visit. Hsiao and three others, however, managed to attend the event.
Lu had also planned to transit in Thailand, but her Thai visa application was denied, Hsiao said.
Lu had planned to give a speech at the Cairo event, whose theme this year was “Education for the 21st Century.” The event opened on Thursday and ended yesterday.
Hsiao criticized President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “diplomatic truce” policy, saying a unilateral truce was meaningless because China’s suppression of Taiwan on the diplomatic front was on-going and would only get worse as Ma “surrenders all his weapons.”
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
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