The reason Sao Tomean President Manuel Pinto da Costa is not able to host President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on his upcoming visit to Africa is because he will be overseas.
Ma’s scheduled visit to the African island nation coincides with Pinto da Costa’s visit to Cuba, Sao Tomean Foreign Minister Manuel Salvador dos Ramos was quoted as saying on Tuesday by Diario Vitrina, a daily newspaper in Sao Tome and Principe.
The minister assured the daily that the cancelation of Ma’s visit was because of a scheduling conflict, the report said.
In Taipei, a government official, who asked to remain anonymous, said Sao Tome gave Taipei the same reason when explaining why Pinto da Costa would not be able to receive Ma.
The newspaper said Salvador dos Ramos denied that Pinto da Costa’s administration intended to rebuild ties with China, saying the country was on good terms with Taiwan and that he had reiterated to Taiwanese Ambassador Cheng Yu-tai (程豫台) its readiness to strengthen friendship and cooperation.
Sao Tome and Principe was dropped on March 27 from the itinerary of Ma’s 12-day visit to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Africa, which begins on Saturday.
The last-minute change came two weeks after the Presidential Office had made public an itinerary that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began arranging earlier this year.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) yesterday reaffirmed that bilateral ties with Sao Tome remain stable.
Asked for comment, Yen Chen-shen (嚴震生), a research fellow at National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, said the unavailability of Pinto da Costa to host Ma has more implications for bilateral ties than just a scheduling issue.
That Pinto da Costa scheduled an overseas trip when Ma would be in Africa indicated he has some issues with Taipei, but a visit to Cuba was “an act of diplomacy,” Yen said.
It was a “reasonable arrangement” that Pinto da Costa opted to travel to Cuba when he apparently did not want to meet with Ma because Cuba has been on good terms with African countries that used to be Portuguese colonies, he said.
Yen said a visit to Cuba rather than another country would make the unavailability of Pinto da Costa to host Ma “less offensive,” but it was still a gesture of his intention to switch ties from Taipei to Beijing, especially when all other issues are considered — he is a left-wing politician who maintained diplomatic ties with China when he served as the first president of Sao Tome and Principe from 1975 to 1991.
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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
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
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