■ DIPLOMACY
Aid granted to Nicaragua
The government on Friday granted Nicaragua US$100,000, the first of a total of US$500,000 in aid expected over the next five years for social programs. "This shows the extraordinary relations of friendship, fraternity and solidarity that the Taiwanese government has with Nicaragua," Nicaraguan Vice President Jaime Morales Carazo said. He said the funds would be devoted to projects for children, homes for the elderly and women's detention centers, among others. Taiwanese Ambassador Wu Chin-mu (吳進木) said the money was in response to a request by the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Ortega asked for support for social programs to benefit those most vulnerable in the Central American country.
■ DEFENSE
Military denies favors
The military yesterday denied that plans to tear down unused military buildings in Dadushan (大肚山), Taichung County, were meant to favor a local funeral company. Taichung Reserve Personnel Command Headquarters said that the buildings were being demolished to facilitate development of the land and contribute to the area's prosperity. As Dadushan is a well-known site for cemeteries, funeral home operators in the district are concerned that the military's decision to demolish the old buildings and return the property to its land owner, who also runs a funeral establishment, could give rise to intense competition in the region.
■ DIPLOMACY
Office in Italy relocates
Taiwan's representative office in Italy has been relocated to Liege Street in the Parioli district of Rome as part of efforts to offer better service in a more spacious setting, office director Cheng Shin (鄭欣) said recently. The relocation to a three-story building was mainly because the last office was too small to accommodate staff, facilities and equipment, Cheng said. The Parioli district features scores of embassies. Part of the first floor of the new office building will be refurbished into a space dubbed "Taiwan Square," where Taiwanese students studying music or arts in Italy can display their academic and artistic achievements, Cheng said.
■ DIPLOMACY
Mali bars Taiwanese NGO
A Taiwanese nongovernment organization (NGO) on Friday accused Mali of barring two of its members from a "Community of Democracies" summit in order to appease China, which was not invited to the meeting. Bo Tedards, a director of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, said the foundation's president, Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), and an adviser were denied visas by the Malian government, which has diplomatic relations with Beijing. Tedards said Mali's decision to exclude the foundation's representatives was damaging for the Community of Democracies and showed the diplomatic and economic power China was exerting on the world's poorest continent. "Either they [the Malians] wanted to please China or they were asked to exclude the representatives," he said. Tedards was able to travel to Bamako because he has a US passport. He said the Taiwanese nonprofit foundation had been able to attend previous Community of Democracy meetings in Chile, South Korea and Poland. A Malian foreign ministry official said his government had received no pressure from Beijing, but stood by its foreign policy principle of recognizing "one China" and not having diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard