Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) yesterday handed over NT$24.45 million (US$774,286) donated by Taiwanese to Japan to be used in recovery efforts after an earthquake hit Kyushu Island on April 16.
Su, leading a 23-member legislative delegation on a visit to Japan, presented the money to Mitsuo Ohashi, chairman of Japan’s Interchange Association, which handles bilateral exchanges between Taiwan and Japan in the absence of diplomatic relations.
The donations were made to an account opened by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Su said.
He said he hopes the funds help ongoing earthquake recovery efforts in Kumamoto Prefecture.
Taiwan and Japan have maintained a close relationship and have helped each other in times of difficulty, Su said.
Japan offered extensive support and assistance to Taiwan in the wake of a series of gas explosions in Kaohsiung in 2014, a deadly flash fire at a New Taipei City water park last year and a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in February in Tainan, Su said.
Ohashi thanked Taiwanese and said many Japanese remember the support and help offered by Taiwan after a magnitude 9 earthquake devastated northeastern Japan in 2011.
He said Taiwanese tourists are invited to visit Kumamoto to help boost its tourism.
Ohashi also said he hopes relations between Taiwan and Japan continue to grow and serve as a model to the international community.
Following the handover, Ohashi hosted a luncheon for the Taiwanese delegation.
The delegation was later scheduled to meet with Hiroyuki Hosoda, acting secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and Yukio Edano, secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, and visit the Tokyo National Museum.
Today, the delegation is to meet with Nobuo Kishi, a Japanese parliamentarian who is the brother of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and head of a group of young Japanese lawmakers.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS