Swaziland’s foreign affairs minister reaffirmed the country’s ties with Taiwan, describing the relationship between the two countries as a marriage that will not end in a divorce, even if China were to approach the country.
During a talk with Taiwanese media on Tuesday, Swazi Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Lutfo Dlamini said that Swaziland and Taiwan “have [been] married for 42 years and we have a provision that there is no room for divorce.”
The diplomatic relationship between Taiwan and Swaziland has existed for 42 years, and Swazi officials eagerly wish to extend the political ties to economic areas by attracting Taiwanese investors and tourists to the country.
“Over the years, we have seen over US$90 million [of] investment coming from Taiwan ... we would want to send this message to Taiwan that Swaziland is ready to do business with our friends,” said Dlamini, who arranged the trip for Taiwanese reporters to visit his country.
Swaziland, one of Taiwan’s four diplomatic allies in Africa, has been supportive of Taiwan’s bid to join international organizations.
“We are proud of ourselves that we have always stood by Taiwan, even in the United Nations. This is why we take pride that today Taiwan is part of the World Health Organization, and this is our wish that one day Taiwan will be recognized by all the bodies because of the value and the role the people of Taiwan play in the development of the world,” Dlamini said.
Asked by reporters if China has tried to force the country to switch allegiance to Beijing, Dlamini said that “they [have] yet to approach” the country.
“But let me give this example: When you are young and beautiful, a lot of men want to marry you, and there is nothing wrong with that,” Dlamini said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
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