President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) plans to appoint former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) as the nation’s representative to Japan after she assumes office in May, a local news report said.
The decision was finalized last week after Hsieh accepted the position, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported on its Web site late on Sunday.
Hsieh yesterday would not confirm the report, calling talk about his new job “a newspaper’s appointment.”
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
There has also been speculations about him accepting other assignments, Hsieh said.
Hsieh, who served as premier from 2005 to 2006 under the administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), would be the first former premier to serve as the nation’s representative to Japan, if he is selected for the job.
The 69-year-old’s long political career also included stints as a lawmaker and mayor of Kaohsiung.
Citing a Democratic Progressive Party the source familiar with the matter, Apple Daily said Tsai made the decision mainly because of Hsieh’s good connections in Japan’s political circles.
Another consideration was Hsieh’s proposed “constitutional consensus” for dealing with cross-strait relations, which Japan finds acceptable, the report said.
According to another source within the pan-green camp, Hsieh’s appointment is highly anticipated in Japan because he has studied there, speaks fluent Japanese and maintains good relationships in Japan’s political circles, the newspaper said.
Hsieh’s status as a former premier would also reflect the importance the future Tsai administration accords relations with Japan, the source said.
SET News cable channel cited former representative to Japan Koh Se-kai (許世楷) as saying that because Hsieh studied in Japan for many years, he has a certain degree of understanding of that nation’s history and culture.
However, in light of the “China factor,” Koh suggested that Hsieh clearly define his policy views toward China and Japan.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS