Despite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ insistence that a Beijing-hosted forum with Central American and Carribbean states that included some of Taiwan’s allies last week was not political in nature, the summit concluded with participants declaring that they would tackle “political and diplomatic” issues.
The China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit was held on Thursday and Friday. CELAC has 33 members, including 12 of Taiwan’s 22 diplomatic allies, with at least nine of them attending the forum.
According to a report by China’s Xinhuanet, the forum reached three conclusions: the “Beijing Declaration,” a five-year cooperation plan and regulations governing the China-CELAC summit.
The Beijing Declaration states that China and the participating Latin American countries would, under the framework of the forum and the principle of respecting one another’s sovereignty, hold meetings that touch on areas such as foreign affairs, politics and economics.
The ministry had said in a statement on Thursday that the forum would only focus on economics and not deal with politics.
The presence of Taiwan’s allies at the forum will not affect their diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and those allies had all informed the ministry beforehand, the ministry said at the time.
Panama, one of Taiwan’s Central American allies, also issued a statement on Saturday stating that the Beijing Declaration would reinforce cultural exchanges between China and Latin American counties.
The statement also quoted Panamanian Deputy Foreign Minister Luis Miguel Hincapie as proposing, on behalf of Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, that the next China-CELAC summit be held between the “heads of governments” to engage in the “highest-level” cooperation.
In response, MOFA spokeswoman Anna Kao (高安) said that Taiwan maintains robust diplomatic relations with Panama, which had informed the ministry that it would participate in the forum only as a member of a regional organization and that it promised to stay away from politics.
The ministry will continue to monitor developments, she added.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said the ministry was turning a blind eye to the fact that China is courting Taiwan’s Latin American allies.
Chiu questioned whether the ministry and the nation’s overseas missions have a full picture of the situation, and demanded a thorough account from the ministry.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said that China has been building an ever-stronger presence in Latin America, and the local anti-US sentiment has reinforced China’s influence in the region.
Taiwan’s ruling and opposition parties should unite on this front, instead of engaging in a futile blame game, he added.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS