Women are thriving in the nation’s diplomatic corps, with six of Taiwan’s diplomatic missions in Europe alone headed by female diplomats, the most at any one time in the country’s history.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) officials said that although some of the country’s diplomatic missions on other continents are also led by female diplomats, none of those areas have as high a concentration of female diplomatic mission chiefs as Europe.
The group comprises Representative to Denmark Lily Hsu (徐儷文), Representative to the Czech Republic Hsueh Mei-yu (薛美瑜), Representative to Finland Lin Ching-lien (林錦蓮), Representative to Greece Agnes Chen (陳華玉), Representative to Hungary Marietta Kaoliau (高青雲) and Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛), permanent representative to the WTO in Geneva.
Taiwan maintains an embassy at the Vatican, a permanent mission at the WTO headquarters in Geneva and representative offices in 21 European countries.
Ministry officials said overseas representative offices take care of visas and other affairs in countries where Taiwan has not set up representative offices.
Hsu is versed in the structures and operations of major international organizations and once headed the ministry’s Department of International Organizations. She has substantial overseas work experience, having worked at Taiwan’s representative offices in the UK and the US.
Hsueh impressed many lawmakers during her time as deputy director-general of the ministry’s Department of North American Affairs with her calm, reasoned and articulate style. She was credited with having helped former Representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) restore bilateral trust between Taiwan and the US during her years as political division chief at the representative office in Washington.
Her current stint in Eastern Europe is widely seen as part of the government’s efforts to expand her vision and work experience.
Lin had been director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Sydney before assuming her current post as the country’s representative in Finland.
Ministry sources said Lin’s promotion from the post of director of the Bureau of Consular Affairs to leading the Sydney office was nearly unprecedented in the ministry’s history. She was credited with promoting the addition of “Taiwan” to the cover of Republic of China passports. Chen is known for her tireless efforts to lobby countries around the world to grant visa-waiver privileges to Republic of China passport holders.
Kao has climbed the diplomatic ladder from the lowest rung. Aside from relations with Hungary, she is also in charge of engagements with other Balkan countries where the ministry has not set up offices, including Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, as well as services for Taiwanese expatriates in the region.
Lai, a former Mainland Affairs Council minister, took office as Taiwan’s new permanent representative at WTO headquarters in Geneva in the middle of the month. Diplomatic sources said Lai’s knowledge of economic affairs was the main reason for her appointment.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man