The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday that it has prepared contingency plans to be used in the event that foreign dignitaries attending the Oct. 10 National Day banquet are disturbed by protesters.
The anti-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)campaign has announced that a plan to "besiege" the Presidential Office on Double Ten Day on Oct. 10 will proceed as scheduled. As a result some lawmakers suggested canceling the celebration and the National Day dinner party because of the protest.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) yesterday said that the annual Double Ten Day dinner party will be held in the Taipei Guest House, near the Presidential Office, as in past years. Preparations are under way and would not be affected by the ongoing campaign, he added.
"Should political activity hinder foreign guests from entering the Taipei Guest House, the ministry has made preparations for such a situation," Lu said.
Director-general of the ministry's Department of Central and South American Affairs, Ko Jai-son (柯吉生), said the president of Honduras, vice president of Nicaragua and the governor of Belize will be attending the Double Ten National Day celebrations. The President of Sao Tome and Principe will also be a guest.
But Lu said the ministry is not sure if American Institute in Taiwan Director Stephen Young, who is currently in the US for consultations, will be able to attend the celebration. If Young cannot make it, a proxy will attend the celebration in his place, which is normal diplomatic practice, Lu added.
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS