Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Chien-jen (
Chen flew to Guatemala last night to attend the inauguration of President-elect Alfonso Portillo Cabrera. He will go to Senegal and Gambia, after Guatemala, as his Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan (
Chen is to meet with Senegal's President Abdou Diouf, Prime Minister Mamadou Lamine Loum and Foreign Minister Jacques Baudin during his Jan. 17 to 22 stay.
He is also to donate a rice-husking factory to Senegal and forge an agreement to avoid bilateral double taxation.
The foreign ministry said Chen is due to hold a regional work conference "aimed at reviewing Taiwan's diplomatic efforts, formulate its African policy and to boost the morale of the diplomats there."
From Senegal, the minister is to travel to Gambia on Jan. 21, where he will call on President Yahya Jammeh. China's latest diplomatic offensive contrasts starkly with the relatively cold shoulder Beijing gave Africa in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Tang Jiaxuan's tour is scheduled to culminate in a Beijing Sino-African ministerial conference in October.
Tang left Beijing Saturday and will visit Nigeria, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Seychelles during the trip which is to end Jan. 20.
Africa has emerged as a diplomatic battle ground between Taipei and Beijing since their separation in 1949 at the end of a civil war.
Taiwan currently maintains diplomatic ties with 29 countries.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique