The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday announced that the newly appointed Charge d'Affaires of the Holy See to Taiwan, Paul Fitzgerald Russell, will assume the post at the end of next month — a statement made in response to speculation that there had been a change in bilateral relations between Taiwan and the Vatican.
“Regarding media reports that the Vatican has not assigned a new representative to replace the outgoing charge d’affaires, we must clarify that the ministry was notified by the Vatican long ago about the appointment of its new charge d’affaires,” Anne Hung (洪慧珠), director-general of the ministry’s Department of European Affairs, said at a regular press briefing.
The new papal nuncio will replace Monsignor Ambrose Madtha.
According to a Deutsche Welle report that cited the Catholic News Agency (KNA), the Vatican’s reassignment of Madtha to the Ivory Coast without announcing his successor indicated that the Holy See was seeking warmer ties with China.
“The Vatican said that it was sorry to cause such doubt and agreed that we could announce the new charge d’affaires to Taiwan before the Holy See does,” Hung said.
Madtha will accompany Archbishop Edward Joseph Adam, the Vatican representative to the Philippines, to Tuesday’s presidential inauguration ceremony.
Delegates from 14 European countries are also expected at the event, Hung said, touting the strength of Taiwan’s relationship with EU states.
Despite a lack official ties between Taiwan and the EU, the two enjoy strong informal relations, evident in the more than 40 congratulatory messages from various Europeans nations to president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on his victory, she said.
Hung said European well wishers will include a delegatation from the UK led by Sir Nicholas Winterton, joint chairman of the parliamentary British-Taiwan Group.
The EU, however, has not so far taken an official stance on Taiwan’s WHO bid this year, Hung said.
In the past, the EU has not supported Taiwan’s attempts to gain full membership or observer status at the annual World Health Assembly but threw its weight behind increasing Taiwan’s “meaningful participation” in the health body.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai