Vice President Annette Lu (
"The vice president will attend the inauguration ceremony as the president's special envoy," an official at Lu's office said on condition of anonymity.
Gambia is one the nation's African allies. President Yahya Jammeh won a third term in a landslide victory in September, garnering 67 percent of the vote. His government has not decided the date of the inauguration.
Deputy Presidential Office Spokesperson Cho Chun-ying (
LOW PROFILE
Cho said the Presidential Office has a legitimate reason to keep a low profile when arranging trips for the president and vice president -- trying to avoid China's efforts to suppress the nation's diplomatic efforts.
Arranging overseas trips also takes more time, she said.
Lu led a delegation to Jammeh's second inauguration in December 2001. Lu traveled on behalf of Chen because no European government would permit the president to transit for fear of angering China.
China's objections to a scheduled transit stop in Europe for Lu during her 2001 tour also caused difficulties. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it took about three months to arrange Lu's trip at that time.
In related news, the ministry said yesterday that a summit with top African leaders planned for this month will be postponed until next year.
Chen will attend the summit, African Affairs Department Director Lee Chen-hsiung (李辰雄) said.
"Basically the summit will be postponed to next year. It is has been confirmed that President Chen will participate," Lee said. Lee did not say why the summit was postponed.
BEIJING MEETING
China is holding a summit with the leaders of 40 African nations this week in Beijing, and Taiwan's African allies were invited.
Ministry spokesman David Wang (
also see stories:
Chinese, African leaders to hobnob at summit
Is China the new colonial power in Africa?
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Huang’s body was found just outside the bathroom and showed no signs of a struggle, and no alcohol or drugs were found Singer and actor Alien Huang (黃鴻升) was found dead at his home in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) yesterday. He was 36. Huang was also known by the nickname Xiao Gui (“little ghost”). His body was found when his father went to check on him after being unable to reach him by telephone, and called emergency services to the house at 11am, the Taipei City Police Department said. Huang’s body, which was discovered just outside the bathroom, showed no signs of a physical struggle, and he appeared to have been dead for some time, police said, adding that no drugs or alcohol were
CONFIRMED IN PHILIPPINES: The CECC would conduct contact tracing for the migrant workers to determine if they had come into contact with elderly people or children Six Filipinos tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning home from Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported a case of imported COVID-19 infection, bringing the number of confirmed cases in Taiwan to 500. Philippine authorities reported four of the cases through the National IHR Focal Point, while the other two were reported by the company that they had worked for in Taiwan. The six — five women and one man — are aged from their 20s to 40s, and worked as in-home care workers, domestic workers, factory workers and sailors in Taiwan, said Minister of Health and
TIME FOR CHANGE: Most of those at a public hearing organized by the DPP’s Chung Chia-pin also agreed that the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished Taiwan needs a new constitution, as the current one was adopted in Nanjing in 1946, when the Republic of China (ROC) represented all of China, while the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished, legal experts and academics said yesterday during a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Chang Kun-sheng (張錕盛), a law professor and secretary-general of the Taiwan Administrative Law Association, said that it is time to draft a new constitution. The ROC Constitution was adopted during a National Constituent Assembly meeting in Nanjing shortly after World War II and before the Chinese Civil War had fully erupted,
The COVID-19 pandemic might not have originated from a seafood market in Wuhan, China, National Taiwan University College of Public Health professor Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. While many countries are experiencing second waves of COVID-19 infections, many are also lifting lockdowns to revive their economies, allowing travelers to cross national borders, Chen said. Academics have been questioning whether genetic mutations in the novel coronavirus in different countries have made it more infectious, he added. Academics from different backgrounds have conducted phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences, he said, adding that the studies can help scientists understand how the virus spread among
RSS