The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday conceded that it is considering writing off some of Nicaragua's debts, but denied speculation that Nicaragua made the demand in exchange for keeping diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
"We are considering it from the humanitarian point of view, but it has not been decided yet. It is international consensus to help needy countries," Foreign Ministry Spokesman David Wang (
Wang was responding to a Chinese-language newspaper report said Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos had mentioned the request to reporters on Friday after conferring a medal on the nation's ambassador to Nicaragua, Hung Ming-ta (洪明達).
Nicaragua wants Taiwan to write off the debts in exchange for Managua's maintaining ties with Taiwan, the China Times said.
The newspaper said that Nicaragua owes Taiwan US$160 million, and that the total debt would be higher if Taipei's loans to Nicaragua extended through the Central American Integration System were also taken into account.
On Thursday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said that his government was waiting for Taiwan's decision regarding Managua's request for electricity-generation equipment.
The China Times quoted Ortega as saying there would be no change in bilateral ties if the equipment is delivered and put into operation in October, in an apparent allusion to Nicaragua's conditions for continued diplomatic recognition of the nation.
Since Costa Rica switched recognition from Taiwan to China on June 1, reports have speculated that Nicaragua also plans to break ties with Taiwan and recognize China.
But Santos has denied the reports, saying that his country treasured its friendship with Taiwan.
Nicaragua recognized Beijing in 1985 after Ortega's first election. However, former president Violeta Chamorro broke with Beijing and re-established ties with Taiwan after defeating Ortega in 1990.
Before winning the most recent presidential election, Ortega had said that if he won, he would switch recognition from Taiwan to China to meet the needs of the Nicaraguan business sector.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching