A Papua New Guinean government minister has reportedly admitted meeting a key figure in a failed bid to lure the South Pacific country to officially recognize Taiwan.
The Post-Courier newspaper on Friday reported that Papuan Minister for National Planning Paul Tiensten said he met with one of two Taiwanese middlemen involved in the failed 2006 attempt to establish ties with Papua New Guinea.
Revelations last week that Taiwan lost US$30 million in a failed 2006 attempt to establish ties with Papua New Guinea have thrown President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) government into scandal. One of the middlemen, Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖), has disappeared, allegedly along with the money.
The Post-Courier cited Tiensten as saying he met the Taiwanese envoy in 2006 when he was the minister for trade and industry.
Tiensten said the meeting was intended to strengthen Papua New Guinea’s trade relationship with Taiwan, and he had no knowledge of the diplomatic switch plan, the newspaper reported.
The paper did not name the envoy.
Timothy Bonga, another Papua New Guinean lawmaker and head of the national water company, was reportedly also at the meeting and was quoted by the paper as saying the trip to Taiwan did not include discussions on diplomatic recognition.
“My trip to Taiwan was to look at water plant matters, on how we could improve the city sewerage and water bottling matters,” Bonga was quoted as saying.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
RSS