Ties with Nauru are stable despite the Nauruan president’s last minute cancellation of a visit to Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, while acknowledging that Beijing had increased its efforts to entice Taiwan’s allies.
Nauru President Marcus Stephen was scheduled to visit this week, but had to cancel his trip at the last minute because of a domestic matter, ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) said.
Yeh said that ties between the two countries were stable and bilateral projects and communication between the two countries were taking place as normal.
The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported yesterday that ties might be in danger because of disagreements in Nauru’s parliament over the country’s allegiance to Taiwan. The report said that China was going all-out to convince Taiwan’s remaining 23 allies to switch sides.
“Media speculation about shaky ties between the two countries was unfounded and Taiwan maintains a healthy relationship with both the ruling and opposition parties of Nauru,” Yeh said.
Stephen has repeatedly expressed his country’s support for Taiwan. He was quoted as saying that Nauru was often referred to as the smallest republic, but it nevertheless has a strong voice and a valuable vote in the UN.
Yeh said, however, that China had been greatly encouraged after persuading Costa Rica, Taiwan’s ally for 60 years, to break ties with Taipei last June.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
RSS