Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) office yesterday announced that he had accepted an invitation to attend this year’s World Chinese Economic Summit in Malaysia, adding that an application for the trip would be submitted to the Presidential Office in due time.
In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, Ma’s office said that he has agreed to attend the summit, which is to take place on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17 in Malacca, Malaysia.
“During his planned trip, Ma is also scheduled to give a speech at Malaysia’s Southern University College. Planning is still under way for the trip and Ma will file a request within the required time with the Presidential Office to leave the country,” Ma’s office said.
Asked how many days the former head of state plans on staying in Malaysia, Ma’s office did not give a specific answer, saying only that things are still being planned.
It is the second time that Ma has planned to travel overseas since leaving office on May 20.
Ma was forced to cancel his first such plan, a one-day trip to Hong Kong to attend the Society of Publishers in Asia’s Awards for Editorial Excellence ceremony on June 15.
The Presidential Office denied his request to leave the country three days before his scheduled departure.
The Presidential Office said it made the decision due to national security concerns and the highly sensitive nature of the destination.
According to Article 26 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), people who exercise the original classification authority, handle classified information within the scope of their official duty, retire or resign from the official positions mentioned in the act, or have handled the transfer of classified information within three years should obtain prior approval before leaving Taiwan.
Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) yesterday said that the office was yet to receive an application from Ma, adding that it would process it prudently and in accordance with regulations.
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