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.”
The Tourism Administration yesterday announced that it would reward repeat international visitors with incentives of up to NT$8,000 to boost inbound tourism. The incentives are available to all international tourists, it said, adding that repeat visitors would be rewarded with NT$5,000 and would receive an additional NT$3,000 if they bring travel companions. The nation received 2,990,657 inbound visitors during the first quarter, marking a 3.8 percent increase from the same period last year, agency data showed. Japanese nationals are among groups visiting Taiwan the most. About 1.48 million Japanese tourists arrived last year, a year-on-year increase of more than 12
‘BRAZEN’: The holiday did not stop China from activities that infringe on Taiwan’s maritime jurisdiction, but the CGA is ready to defend the nation, Kuan Bi-ling said Beijing is intensifying maritime pressure on Taiwan, but the nation will never yield, Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Sung Chen-en (宋承恩) said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has adopted a “shadowing and monitoring” approach to avoid falling into a Chinese trap to escalate tensions and deepen the conflict, Sung said in an interview published yesterday in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). China Coast Guard formations patrolling waters east of Taiwan, as well as official Chinese vessels entering areas around Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) and Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) show Beijing’s attempts to significantly step up
BOOST: By operating the same advanced systems as the US military, Taiwan would be better positioned to share and integrate intelligence with partners, an expert said The first batch of MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones has arrived in Taiwan, and is being assembled and tested by drone manufacturer General Atomics and the military ahead of flight trials as part of the air force’s acquisition to bolster its aerial surveillance capabilities, a source said yesterday. The air force allocated a budget of NT$21.7 billion (US$687 million) from 2022 to 2029 to procure four MQ-9B uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) manufactured by General Atomics along with associated equipment such as ground control stations. The US has agreed to deliver the four MQ-9Bs to Taiwan in two batches this year and next
Taiwanese firms’ China investments have dwindled to less than 1 percent of their total foreign investments, putting China-based investments on track for a record low this year, Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed. Taiwan’s investments abroad in the first five months of this year reached US$35.92 billion, Department of Investment Review data showed. Investments outside China totaled US$35.61 billion, up 133.94 percent year-on-year, while investments in China totaled US$310.3 million, down 32.3 percent and about 0.86 percent of the total, data showed. Major overseas projects included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) US$30 billion capital injection into an overseas subsidiary,
RSS