The outgoing minister of foreign affairs, Mark Chen (
Chen, who is slated to become secretary-general of the Presidential Office today, said yesterday that "the youngest minister is coming tomorrow. I hope the ministry's staff can give their utmost support to him. As much as you supported an old minister [like me], you should extend your support to the young minister as well."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday held a series of farewell parties to give send-offs to Chen and outgoing chairwoman of the ministry's Research and Planning Committee May-sing Yang (楊黃美幸), who has been named the new deputy head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee.
Chen yesterday commended Huang as having an excellent grip on foreign affairs and possessing a delicate sense of judgment on the situation.
Chen's remarks appeared to be intended to defuse doubts that Huang's relative youth would make it difficult for him to command the hierarchical foreign ministry, where many senior officials are Huang's former bosses.
Commenting on his new posting as chief of staff of the Presidential Office, Chen said his nearly two years of experience in the foreign ministry would be a valuable asset to the new job. He also noted that another primary task would be to help promote the constitutional re-engineering project President Chen Shui-bian (
"I believe the reason President Chen appointed me as his chief of staff is my background and experience in foreign affairs, as well as my contacts and connections in the Democratic Progressive Party, which form a good basis for me to liaise between the Presidential Office, the Cabinet and the party," Chen said.
The ministry yesterday also awarded a medal of diplomacy to the outgoing director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Douglas Paal, who is scheduled to leave Taiwan today.
Expressing his gratitude to colleagues and staff at the foreign ministry, Paal yesterday said a good example of collaboration with his Taiwanese colleagues was the acquisition of the site in Neihu for the AIT's new office building.
"While we still await authorization for the building itself from Washington, I am confident it will come in time and stand as a proud symbol of America's long-term commitment to Taiwan," Paal said.
Paal said the US is deploying personnel to fit with Taiwan's modern social, political and economic developments.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
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