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
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS