The founding of the new Taiwan-Singapore Parliamentary Friendship Association is evidence of the strong relations between the two nations, Singapore’s representative to Taiwan Stanley Loh (羅嘉良) said at a press conference announcing the establishment of the group yesterday.
Loh touted Taiwan’s potential and said that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “I-Taiwan 12 Projects” has piqued immense interest in the Singaporean business sector.
“I found out about the formation of the group three days ago and I was very surprised but extremely happy to hear the news,” he said. “It is like getting a wonderful present from a close old friend.”
He said that Singapore and Taiwan had cooperated on numerous occasions in the past and the two nations would continue to engage in a healthy working relationship in the future.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) also applauded the formation of the group, saying the association would “bring two close friends ever closer.”
“Despite the absence of formal ties, Taiwan and Singapore have always enjoyed a smooth channel of communications. High-ranking officials have visited each other frequently without obstruction,” Wang said.
The association is comprised of 54 lawmakers across party lines and headed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓), with Wang as its honorary chairman.
Chou said Singapore has achieved many things worthy of emulation, such as its achievement in reaching a GDP per capita of US$30,000, adding that the meeting between former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) and former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) at the Beijing Olympics was an indication of warming bilateral relations that had been frozen in recent years.
Chou also thanked Singapore’s UN representative George Yeo (楊榮文) for speaking up for the nation in this week’s general debate at the UN.
It was the first time that Singapore has publicly supported Taiwan at the global body.
Foreign Minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) has previously emphasized the need to foster closer relations with Singapore, calling the nation a crucial friend and ally in Taiwan’s attempts to join ASEAN.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS