Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) signed a letter of intent with her Guatemalan counterpart on Friday, promising Taiwan aid to help restore buildings and historical sites there that have been repeatedly damaged by earthquakes.
Unlike all other economic and technological aid programs that Taiwan has engaged in with its allied countries, this marks the first "cultural diplomacy" launched by any political leader from Taiwan to help preserve historical sites and enhance bilateral cultural ties with a diplomatic ally, she said.
According to preliminary plans, Taiwan will help restore and renovate the Museum Pilar de Zaragoza and the Monastery Sor Juana located in Antigua, a city of monuments founded in 1543 with a strong Spanish colonial influence.
PHOTO: CNA
Restoration and renovation of the two historical sites are expected to be completed in two years, with a budget of around US$700,000, said Wu Ching-fa (
Lu signed the letter of intent with Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein on Friday in a ceremony witnessed by President Oscar Berger.
Lu and her group toured the city of Antigua on Saturday with Antigua Mayor Antonio Siliezar Portillo. Lu and Siliezar jointly announced the restoration and renovation project during the tour.
Throughout its history, the city now known as Antigua Guatemala, or La Antigua, has been repeatedly damaged by earthquakes, and always the Antiguan-style buildings have been rebuilt. But on July 29, 1773, earthquakes wrought such destruction that officials petitioned the King of Spain to allow them to move the capital to safer ground, which led to the founding in 1776 of present-day Guatemala City.
Antigua was left to rusticate, largely but never completely abandoned. Today, its monumental bougainvillea-draped ruins and its preserved and carefully restored Spanish colonial public buildings and private mansions form a city of charm and romance unequaled in the Americas. In 1979, UNESCO recognized Antigua Guatemala as a Cultural Heritage of Mankind site.
Touring the city, Lu said that Guatemala is a country blessed with a rich cultural heritage. She said she was moved deeply by Guatemala's historical and architectural magnificence the first time she visited the country nine months ago.
The first thing she did after returning to Taiwan was to meet officials and academics to work out a plan to help Guatemala preserve its cultural heritage, Lu said.
Lu gave Siliezar a satellite photo of Antigua City taken by the Taiwanese satellite ROCSAT-II and invited Siliezar to visit Taiwan in the near future.
The vice president also expressed hope that Antigua City will give seedlings of Guatemala's national flower and tree to Taiwan as a gift so that a beautiful Latin garden can be nurtured in Taipei City.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
President William Lai (賴清德) today condemned an alleged attempt by two Chinese to snatch a letter of congratulations handed to Taiwan’s taekwondo team after they won silver at the Summer World University Games in Essen, Germany, yesterday. A Chinese man and woman reportedly tried to snatch a congratulatory letter to athletes Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), Jung Jiun-jie (鍾俊傑) and Huang Cho-cheng (黃卓乘) from the Ministry of Education, and then argued with media employees. “Why are you taking our things?” the media employees asked. “Does that say Chinese Taipei?” the two Chinese reportedly said. Following the incident, Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) wrote on