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Fourth representative office opens in Australia

Diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Australia have reached a new milestone as Taipei recently opened a representative office in Brisbane, the third-largest city in Australia, the ministry of foreign affairs said yesterday.

The newly established Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brisbane is the fourth consular office to be opened in Australia, in addition to the ones in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne.

The latest addition to the Brisbane consular arm has made Australia the country with the third most Taiwanese representative offices, after the US and Japan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs approved the establishment of the economic and cultural office in Brisbane on Aug. 16 after strong support from overseas Taiwanese in Australia.

A local Taiwanese association in Queensland started a petition campaign in October, 2002 to ask the government to open a consular office in Brisbane.

There are roughly 20,000 Taiwanese residents in Brisbane, which accounts for 40 percent of the total Taiwanese expatriates in Australia, making Brisbane the largest Taiwanese hub in the country.

The director for the Brisbane representative office, James Tien (田中光), arrived in Brisbane on Dec. 9 and received a warm welcome from local government offic-ials and Taiwanese residents.

Tien, 53, formerly served in Taiwan's representative offices in Houston and Canada, as well as in the embassy of Taiwan's former ally the Kingdom of Tonga and the Trade Mission Office in Fiji Islands.

He was also once the convener of the task force for the country's World Health Organization entry bid.

Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) recently disclosed that the ministry has decided to send a former section chief of Taipei's Representative Office in Belgium, Song Zi-zheng (宋子正), to replace Cheng Shin (鄭欣) as ambassador to the Republic of Chad.

Cheng will become director of Taipei's Representative Office in Italy.
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