Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) was forced to change flight plans from Swaziland to Burkina Faso after South Africa denied his request to make a transit stop in the country, a diplomatic source said yesterday.
The diplomatic source confirmed that there had been pressure from Beijing on Pretoria not to allow a second transit by Yen through its territory after China learned that Yen had earlier transited through the country to Swaziland, as reported in the Chinese-language Liberty Times, the Taipei Times’ sister paper.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had sent Yen as his envoy to attend the birthday celebration of Swaziland’s King Mswati III on April 24. The delegation led by Yen then paid a visit to Burkina Faso on the return trip to celebrate 20 years of diplomatic ties.
According to the Liberty Times, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged a charter flight for the delegation to fly directly from Swaziland to Burkina Faso after it was informed at short notice that the scheduled stopover in South Africa would not be allowed.
The Liberty Times reported the charter flight was “costly.”
In response to reporters’ questions about the report yesterday, foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) did not confirm or deny whether China had been involved.
Given there is no direct flight from Swaziland to Burkina Faso, a possible plan all along was that the delegation would travel to Burkina Faso from Swaziland by charter flight, Kao said.
The ministry has different plans in place in relation to overseas travel for officials and it decides on a final option after everything is considered, Kao said, adding that the use of a charter flight in this case was to ensure the delegation’s safety and convenience.
Swaziland, Burkina Faso, and Sao Tome and Principe are the only three countries in Africa with which Taiwan still has diplomatic relations.
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The government is monitoring online rumors that a pneumonic plague outbreak has spread from Russia into China, and it might enhance quarantine measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During a legislative meeting, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that rumors had circulated that the disease had spread across several Chinese provinces. He asked Cho whether the government was prepared to prevent the disease spreading to Taiwan, given the volume of traffic between the two sides, and how concerned the government was about the alleged outbreak. The Ministry of Health and Welfare had implemented border quarantine measures after briefing the Executive
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RIGHT TO DIPLOMACY: Under the UN Charter, every state has the right to conduct foreign policy free from external pressure, Belize said in a statement Belize and Paraguay on Monday condemned Beijing sanctions over their countries’ ties with Taiwan, saying China’s actions create unnecessary tensions. Earlier on Monday, Beijing announced sanctions against Paraguayan Minister of Information and Communication Technologies Gustavo Villate and Belizean Minister of Foreign Affairs Francis Fonseca. The Paraguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it rejected the sanctions, writing on X that they created unnecessary friction. It added that it reaffirmed its support for Taiwan and its commitment to democratic values and principles. Villate told the Spanish-language Paraguayan daily ABC Color the sanctions were “predictable” and linked them to several cooperation projects between Taiwan and Paraguay. The projects
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