Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Chiou Jong-nan (邱榮男) will be Taiwan's new representative to France, Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) said yesterday in announcing a series of personnel changes in the foreign ministry.
"This is the first batch of reshuffling of Taiwan's diplomats," Chien told reporters during a luncheon with the media.
The current representative to France, Hsieh Hsin-ping (
Chiou served as Taiwan's representative in France from 1991 to 1996 and Taiwan's ambassador to Haiti from 1997 to 2000.
"With his strong ability in the French language and close relations with France, we hope to strengthen our relations with Paris," Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokeswoman Katharine Chang (
In other moves, Wu Wen-ya (
Chien said that other personnel transfers are being considered.
"Job rotation is a normal part of the diplomatic service," Chien said. "The planned adjustments have been prudently evaluated. Both Chiou and Wu are suitable for their new posts."
Chien said that the government rotates diplomats to help them develop their abilities and talents in the most suitable places.
Chien gave the example of Wu's assignment to Malaysia, where, the foreign minister said, Wu's experience of serving in trade and economic affairs and of overseas work would be of great use in his new job.
"I'm convinced that once he assumes his new post, he will contribute much to the development of substantive relations between Taiwan and Malaysia," Chien said.
Meanwhile, the ministry said it was considering signing accords with developed countries on the issuance of "working holidaymaker visas."
"Japan has signed memorandums of understanding with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France and South Korea on the exchange of `working holidaymaker visas' to encourage exchanges of their youth," a ministry official said.
Under these bilateral accords, Japan allows young people from the five countries to enter its territory for sightseeing and to take up part-time or short-term work.
South Korea has signed similar agreements with Australia, New Zealand and Canada to promote bilateral youth exchanges.
The official said that the "working holidaymaker visas" program has achieved satisfactory results in both Japan and South Korea and has become a welcome forum for international youth exchanges.
"Therefore Taiwan should learn from the Japanese and South Korean experiences in this regard," the official said.
"Allowing a large number of youths from advanced countries [to come to Taiwan] for vacation and short-term work would enable them to have first-hand information about Taiwan's culture and its liberal and democratic lifestyle," he said, adding that those youths could become "friends of Taiwan" in the long run.
Moreover, the official said the program could also be conducive to the government's drive to upgrade local people's English proficiency as visiting foreign youths could serve as English teachers during their vacation in Taiwan.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
RSS