Taiwan plans to invite the 33 Chilean miners rescued after more than two months underground to visit the nation, a top official said yesterday.
“We will express our wish via our representative office [in Chile] ... We will do our best to let them feel our warm welcome,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) told reporters when asked for comments on a suggestion first proposed by an opposition lawmaker a day earlier.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成) on Wednesday suggested to Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) on the legislative floor that Taiwan could invite the miners to visit the Taipei International Flora Expo scheduled to open next month.
Later yesterday, when asked by DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) during a question-and-answer session at the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Affairs Committee, Yang clarified his remarks.
“Everyone is kicking up a fuss about inviting the Chilean miners to come to Taiwan. Reporters asked you about this. Did you promise to invite the Chilean miners to come to Taiwan?” Tsai asked.
Yang said the ministry welcomed “any international friends” interested in visiting the flora expo or other exhibitions in Taiwan.
Tsai said he disapproved of the idea of inviting the miners to visit.
“Inviting the Chilean miners to come to Taiwan would be beyond reproach if it is only to help Taiwan get media attention internationally, but when the hype over the matter is over, it would have very little news value. Inviting them to Taiwan would serve no purpose,” Tsai said.
Yang agreed, saying what Tsai had just said was “absolutely correct.”
Chile, like most countries, officially recognizes Beijing over Taipei, but maintains trade ties with Taiwan.
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