Both Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers expressed goodwill toward President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who left on a trip to the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu early yesterday morning.
In response to critics who say that Chen has spent too much money visiting foreign countries since he took office in 2000, DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (
"Think about it, how many countries in the world would welcome our president as a president? It is extremely difficult for Taiwan to survive in the world today and that means we should work harder to step out," Hsiao said.
"I think we should salute and send our best regards to the president for what he is doing," she said.
Given that China is continuously working to lure away Taiwan's allies to establish relations with Beijing, Hsiao said that it takes work and effort to maintain diplomatic relations with foreign countries.
In addition, while some have said Chen is traveling to foreign countries now to divert media attention from KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (
"It is the president's job to maintain friendly ties with foreign countries. He definitely needs to find some time to do this [take trips]," she said.
Hsiao encouraged the public to support the president since the trip would not be easy.
"There are no five-star hotels in those places. They do not even have running water. But the president insists on going to do something for the country. We should wish him good luck instead of cursing him," Hsiao said.
In addition to Hsiao's comments, KMT Lawmaker Su Chi (
Su is currently accompanying Lien in Xian.
Commenting on speculation that Chen's trip is aimed at countering Lien's and Soong's China visits, he said the trips to China have nothing to do with the president's trip to solidify Taiwan's foreign ties.
"Visiting our friends regularly is a must-do," he said when approached by the Taipei Times on Saturday night.
Su said that he had no idea when the Presidential Office had begun planning the trip to the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu, but he believed that the president was not using the trip to get himself on the front page of newspapers for political purposes.
According to Su, Lien's trip was scheduled and confirmed when KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (
Former president Lee Teng-hui (
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires