Former minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) expressed regret yesterday over his impeachment for a scandal involving a botched attempt to win Papua New Guinea as a diplomatic ally in which Taiwan was duped out of almost US$30 million.
In a statement, Huang said that because of the difficult situation faced by Taiwan in the international community, any bids to forge diplomatic relations with other countries carried “a high degree of risk” and that the government should not impose limits on its diplomatic work just because of such risks.
In this case, Huang said, he did not “blindly carry out” the mission entrusted to him by his superior, but opted to terminate the project after realizing that it could damage the nation’s interests.
After failing in an attempt to recover the funds, Huang took the initiative to inform the judicial authorities about the case, he said, adding that he was extremely sad about the damage the case had done to the country’s image.
In the scandal, two middlemen — Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖) and Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材) — who were commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006 to help broker a deal for the establishment of diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea, allegedly embezzled US$29.8 million intended as aid for the Pacific nation.
The project was initiated after former National Security Council secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) introduced Ching, who claimed to maintain good connections with Papua New Guinean politicians, to Huang.
Ching has since fled to the US, while Wu has been detained since May and was indicted in September on charges of forgery.
The Control Yuan on Wednesday impeached Huang and Chiou as it concluded an investigation into the scandal.
The impeachments stated that dereliction of duty by Huang and Chiou was to blame for the loss of public funds and for the damage to the government’s image.
Huang and Chiou are still the subject of an investigation by prosecutors.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS