Several permanent representatives to the UN of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies arrived in Taiwan yesterday at the start of a six-day visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.
The delegation comprises permanent representatives to the UN Lois Michele Young of Belize, Aunese Makoi Simati of Tuvalu and his wife, Carlos Enrique Garcia Gonzalez of El Salvador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Jose Blanco of the Dominican Republic. The diplomats were invited by the government, the ministry said.
“The four visiting ambassadors have considerable diplomatic experience, are acquainted with the UN and have been friendly toward the ROC [Republic of China]. Their countries have lent strong support to increased ROC participation in the international arena and helped promote Taiwan’s bids to participate in UN specialized agencies,” the ministry said.
The ministry said the delegation would offer advice and exchange views on the government’s endeavors to secure meaningful participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as on approaches to enhancing interaction between Taiwan and the UN.
The ambassadors will meet President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂), Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) and Minister of Environmental Protection Stephen Shen (沈世宏), the ministry said.
They will also tour the International Cooperation and Development Fund, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, the National Palace Museum, Kaohsiung Harbor and the fishery museum in Pingtung County, the ministry said.
OVERHAUL NEEDED: The government should improve its agricultural processing capabilities and expand to new markets to limit its reliance on China, an expert said China’s ban on Taiwanese pineapples was “unsurprising,” and Taiwan should have years ago altered its produce export strategies and target customers, experts said. China on Friday abruptly suspended imports of pineapples from Taiwan, saying that it had on multiple occasions discovered “harmful biological entities” on the fruit. Calling it an “unfriendly” move, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said that 99.79 percent of the pineapples sent to China since last year have met China’s import standards. Chiao Chun (焦鈞), the author of Fruits and Politics — A Recollection of Cross-strait Agricultural Interaction Over the Past Decade (水果政治學：兩岸農業交流十年回顧與展望), said that China’s announcement is clearly targeting
The Council of Agriculture yesterday signed a Taiwan-Australia Agricultural Cooperation Implementation clause to open a new export market for the nation’s pineapple crop. The clause is an addition to existing cooperation measures, it said. China on Friday last week abruptly announced that it would suspend pineapple imports from Taiwan starting on Monday, on grounds that it had on multiple occasions discovered “harmful organisms” in shipments of the fruit. The public and private sectors have since joined hands to purchase the local fruit to help the nation’s pineapple farmers. Canberra has requested that all pineapples for export to Australia have their crown buds removed,
DECADES OF INFLUENCE: Over the past 20 years, China has made inroads with Aborigines, funding political campaigns and trips, a legislator said Lawmakers have called on the National Security Bureau to investigate claims of pervasive Chinese influence among Aboriginal communities. Legislators pointed to a surge in communist propaganda and Chinese-funded projects over the past few years, which they say are aimed at infiltrating and buying political influence among Aboriginal communities. “China has for decades carried out wide-ranging ‘united front’ tactics and propaganda campaigns targeting Aborigines,” said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), a member of the Puyuma community in Taitung County. “Now, they are influencing elections for local councilors and village chiefs, offering money for candidates to mount their campaigns, and to
DISSATISFACTION? If the referendums collect more than 700,000 signatures each, they would have gotten the most signatures in the shortest time, the party said The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) two referendum petitions — one on banning the importation of pork with traces of ractopamine and the other on holding referendums on the same day as national elections — had as of Thursday gathered 691,398 and 674,497 signatures respectively, the party said yesterday. If the petitions collect more than 700,000 signatures apiece, they would have garnered the most signatures in the shortest time since the Referendum Act (公民投票法) was amended in 2017, party officials said. The KMT proposed the “anti-ractopamine pork” or “food safety” referendum just days after President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) announcement on Aug. 28 last
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