President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) embarked on a 12-day trip to Africa last night, visiting three ally nations in the continent for the first time since taking office in 2008.
Ma will visit Burkina Faso, Gambia and Swaziland.
However, his scheduled visit to Sao Tome and Principe was canceled because the ally nation said Ma’s visit coincided with Sao Tomean President Manuel Pinto da Costa’s visit to Cuba, raising concerns about the stability of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The African tour marks Ma’s sixth foreign trip since becoming president. The last time a Taiwanese head of state visited the continent was when former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) visited the four African allies in 2002.
The delegation includes adviser to the president Steve Chan (詹啟賢), Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) and Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄).
Ma’s trip comes amid domestic disputes over a series of controversial policies, from US beef imports and avian flu to the tax system and the removal of a freeze on fuel price increases.
Saying that Taiwan, under Ma’s governance, has become a subsidiary of China, opposition lawmakers called into question the timing of the overseas trip, characterizing it as Ma’s attempt to escape various controversies, such as the issue of the “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” proposal by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), rising commodity prices and the planned relaxation of a ban on beef products containing ractopamine residue.
Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) -responded by saying the trip had been arranged some time ago, and that, as the nation’s leader, the president should take into consideration both domestic policy and diplomacy, adding that visiting African allies was part of efforts to deepen the nation’s diplomatic ties.
Consolidating diplomatic ties and expanding the nation’s international space did not conflict with handling national matters, he said.
The president trusts Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) to handle ongoing issues and to solve any -problems that arise, Fan Chiang added.
Ma visited Central and South America in 2009, and was originally scheduled to visit the four African allies in March last year, but the trip was postponed after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and mass protests in North Africa.
During the 12-day trip, Ma will visit hospitals, schools and factories that Taiwan has helped build and inspect cooperative projects in agriculture, medicine and education. He will also meet with Taiwanese businesspeople in the area.
Additional reporting by Tseng Wei-chen
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
RSS