Former vice president Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) yesterday arrived in Bali, Indonesia, to attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting on behalf of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
He is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the annual event. Siew will also join Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in a panel session at the chief executives summit.
The APEC leaders’ week, which opened on Tuesday, includes a ministerial meeting that ended yesterday, a CEO summit running yesterday through tomorrow and an economic leaders’ meeting starting tomorrow, as well as other events.
Photo: CNA
Because of China’s objections, Taiwan’s president has been barred from attending the annual APEC summit in person and has had to appoint a proxy each year.
Siew, who has participated in the APEC forum four times in the past, said he felt honored to be able to attend the meetings on behalf of Ma.
Siew’s trip will be his second time attending the APEC meetings in Indonesia, after his participation in the 1994 APEC forum in Bogor.
Siew said he will send a message to APEC members of Taiwan’s hopes of becoming more involved in the regional economy.
He said he will emphasize Taiwan’s trade pacts Taiwan has signed with China and New Zealand, along with its ongoing talks with the US under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it