President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is expected to meet former foreign ministers today to go over his foreign policy of “modus vivendi” and “diplomatic truce” with Beijing, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yi-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday.
Ma is to give a detailed overview of his policies over two meetings, Wang said.
A “modus vivendi” with China was one of the major foreign policy initiatives Ma promoted during the election campaign. He had pledged to adopt “flexible diplomacy” to end the country’s diplomatic isolation, to launch pragmatic negotiations with Beijing and to not oppose allies developing relations with Beijing unless Taiwan’s interests were threatened.
Following his victory in the March presidential election, Ma also proposed that Taiwan should seek a “diplomatic truce” with China by improving cross-strait relations and putting an end to the animosity across the Taiwan Strait.
Ma is scheduled to host a dinner in honor of Foreign Minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) and former ministers including Jason Hu (胡志強), Frederick Fu (錢復), Lien Chan (連戰), Ting Mao-shih (丁懋時), Chen Chien-jen (程建人) and Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) at the Taipei Guest House tonight.
Wang said yesterday that recent developments in cross-strait relations — including opening up cross-strait weekend charter flights and allowing more Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan, as well as Beijing’s decision to refer to the Taiwanese Olympic team as Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北, Chinese Taipei) rather than Zhongguo Taibei (中國台北, Taipei, China) — reflected the Ma administration’s efforts to find a “modus vivendi” with the international community.
Ma will use the occasion to compare his foreign policies with the “scorched-earth diplomacy” of the Democratic Progressive Party administration and promote his “flexible diplomacy” to the international community, Wang said.
At a separate setting yesterday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said that Ma was expected to visit the ministry tomorrow to expand on his idea of a “diplomatic truce” as well as offer encouragement to ministry personnel.
“President Ma will visit the ministry for about one hour to give his instructions and vision for Taiwan’s diplomatic efforts,” Chen said.
Ma, accompanied by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), visited the Mainland Affairs Council on Tuesday.
Ou is scheduled to give a short briefing before Ma makes his comments. Ou, a former representative to Spain and ambassador to Guatemala, will accompany Ma on his trip to Paraguay and the Dominican Republic from Aug. 12 to Aug. 19.
Additional reporting by Jenny W. Hsu
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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