Singapore has reportedly denied entry to Veterans Affairs Council Director Lee Shying-jow (李翔宙), who was on his way to visit veterans of the Republic of China (ROC) armed forces residing in Singapore, despite a tacit agreement that the visit had been approved, a media report said.
Representative to Singapore Liang Kuo-hsing (梁國興) could not be reached on his cellphone yesterday for comment.
Council officials did not deny the report, but they refused to comment on it.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Lee, who was on his way to Thailand, had planned the stopover with the tacit approval of the Singaporean government, the report said.
Last month, Hong Kong customs authorities seized armored vehicles belonging to Singapore’s military that arrived in the territory on their way back from Taiwan after a training exercise permitted by a defense agreement with Taiwan.
The report of Lee’s denied entry and the Hong Kong incident have prompted concern that Beijing is pressuring Singapore over its ties with Taiwan.
Sources said Lee’s high status — he once served as deputy minister of national defense, a commander of the ROC Army, director-general of the National Security Bureau and as a senior presidential adviser — might have prompted concern from Singapore or Beijing.
Lee’s visit to Singapore was arranged after he was invited to attend a semi-official event in Thailand by the Thai royal family’s agricultural foundation at the end of this month.
Lee said it was appropriate that he should visit Singapore on his way to Thailand, an unnamed official at the Veterans Affairs Council told online outlet Up Media.
Another purpose of Lee’s visit to Thailand was to pay respects to the family of Sung Ching-yun (宋慶雲), a Taiwanese agricultural expert working in the kingdom who recently died there, Up Media quoted the official as saying.
The official said the council frequently assisted diplomatic efforts in the US by interacting with retired US military personnel, many of whom remained influential in military and intelligence circles or had since became politicians, according to Up Media.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying