A water-supply system funded by Taiwan has been inaugurated in Sao Tome and Principe, one of the nation’s diplomatic allies in Africa, with the aim of resolving long-standing water problems at the country’s military headquarters, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Ambassador John Chen (陳忠) told the opening ceremony that Taiwan was pleased to continue its cooperative programs with Sao Tome and Principe and would assist with other infrastructure projects once the government’s budget allows for it.
The contractor for the water system, a company called ABC, said the two storage tanks with a total capacity of 105,000 liters will be able to supply the military headquarters with water for an estimated 72 hours if the main water system fails.
Meanwhile, Taiwan recently launched an initiative in Haiti, another of the nation’s allies, to develop a white-sand beach called Point Sable in the south of the country.
Ambassador to Haiti Hsu Mien-sheng (徐勉生) said the beach had great tourism potential and expressed the hope that private businesses would join in developing the area.
In related developments, a local religious foundation delivered relief supplies yesterday to residents of a slum in South Africa whose homes were razed in a fire.
The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation said its South African branch had visited a slum area called Langa near Cape Town to distribute blankets, flour, oil and sugar to the residents of more than 470 households.
The residents of the slum have been forced to stay in tents since losing their homes in the fire earlier this month.
The foundation said that since last week it had distributed hot meals every day to some 2,000 people in the area.
It said it was also taking the opportunity to raise awareness among children in the area of the importance of environmental protection.
The foreign ministry, whose overseas staff also helped with the distribution of the supplies, said that travelers from the Netherlands who happened to be in the area at the time of the fire had made a donation to support the relief efforts.
Meanwhile, closer to home, Taiwan’s business association in the Philippines donated 50 wheelchairs earlier this month to Makati City as part of its efforts to improve the lot of the country’s marginalized minorities.
Makati and Taichung are sister cities, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
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
RSS