The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has allegedly postponed all funding for groups of international academics who had applied to come to Taiwan to monitor the January elections, sources said yesterday.
In one case, a group of four academics from Australia that obtained approval more than a month ago was informed by officials at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canberra on Thursday that the grant would be postponed until late January, meaning that it would be made available only after the elections.
For that delegation, funding was to cover accommodation for four nights and five days through the Jan. 14 elections, as well as airfares. The members of the delegation were informed about the decision in writing.
According to one source knowledgeable of the affair, the decision came from “high up” at the ministry and “all delegations,” including those from the US and Europe, were also reportedly informed that funding deals were postponed.
The source said the ministry claimed it had been “deluged” with applications and did not have sufficient resources or funding to support them, and that rather than having to choose between delegations, it had opted for postponement.
The decision has given rise to speculation among some of the would-be delegates that the real reason behind the decision to postpone the visits is that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration is nervous about the outcome of the elections and does not want to lose face in the presence of foreign observers.
Another source contacted for comment said that if the reason behind the decision to postpone the visits was a lack of finances or human resources, then the funding would have been canceled altogether rather than pushed back until after the election.
In response, ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) yesterday denied that the ministry had instructed its overseas missions to arrange visits for international election observers to the country after the election date.
“As a democratic country based on the rule of law, it is impossible that we would reject international election observers. The ministry welcomes election observers and is willing to provide administrative assistance,” Chang said.
Chang said that earlier this month, the ministry issued an instruction to its overseas missions setting out guidelines about invitations to election observers.
Because of budget limitations, the ministry would not invite extensive numbers of people from the international community to observe the election, but it did not ask that visits scheduled to observe the election be postponed indefinitely, he said.
In related developments, the Taipei Times has learned that efforts are ongoing in the US to have high-profile observers present in Taiwan during and after the elections. According to one of the individuals involved in those efforts, former US president Jimmy Carter has been approached to lead the delegation of “fair election observers.”
Carter’s office has yet to respond to the invitation.
Staff from Republican and Democrat members of the US Congress are also reportedly planning to send delegations to Taiwan to monitor the elections.
The potential US delegation, which is working closely with US representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is also hoping the US will send carrier groups to patrol international waters west of Taiwan, as it has done during past presidential elections. It is hoped the patrol would last until May, when the new or re-elected president steps into office.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai