Two Singaporean warship arrived at Kaohsiung's civil port on Thursday evening amid criticism from legislators over allowing the visit after Singapore recently refused to permit a stop by Taiwanese naval vessels during their global tour.
"The Ministry of National Defense should be criticized," said Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Ho Min-hao (
He added that Minister of Defense Lee Jye (李傑) previously told the legislature that the snubbing of Taiwan's ships would have an influence on Taiwan-Singapore relations, but that yesterday's port stop showed that there had been few consequences.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNH-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsiu-yen (盧秀燕) said "the ministry spoke tough, but acted weak. The Ministry should have taken Taiwan's dignity into consideration."
But Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
"One is to react, and another is to consider China's pressure on Singapore, and treat it in a friendly manner," Lee said. "I personally prefer the second approach."
Hu Chen-pu (
The two Singaporean ships presence at Kaohsiung's civil port, rather than Tsoying navy port nearby has attracted the attention of local media.
A ministry of defense official who requested anonymity said yesterday that a Taiwanese motorized infantry battalion and a Singaporean brigade will conduct a joint drill named Operation High Noon later this month, as part of the Han Chung No. 21 military exercise.
According to the Liberty Times, a Singaporean civilian vessel has sent military personal and weapons including tanks to Kaohsiung in preparation for the military drill.
The two Singaporean vessels will also operate with the navy during the drill, the newspaper said.
Singapore has had military ties with Taiwan for several decades. The two countries' military co-operation program is known as Operation Hsing Kuang (Starlight). According to the program, Taiwan provides training venues for Singaporean artillery, armored vehicles and infantry units.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS