Taiwan’s trade office in Nigeria is to be relocated to Lagos within two weeks, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) said yesterday, after the Nigerian government ordered the office moved out of the capital, Abuja, reportedly due to Chinese pressure.
“Our staff in the mission is packing and will move the office to Lagos later this week or next week,” Lee told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Once the relocation is completed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is to ask the Nigeria Trade Office in Taiwan to relocate as a retaliatory measure, he said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The Nigerian government in January ordered Taiwan to move its office, change the name of the office by removing the title “Republic of China (Taiwan)” and reduce its staff.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday lauded the move, saying that it showed Nigeria’s “staunch support” for the “one China” principle that sees Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China.
Nigeria on March 31 demanded that office director Morgan Chao (趙家寶) leave the country, saying it could not guarantee his safety.
Chao has since returned to Taiwan.
On June 30, Nigerian military personnel sealed off the office and forced its staff off the premises.
In response, Taiwan twice summoned the acting director of the Nigeria Trade Office in Taipei to protest the African country’s moves against Taiwan’s interests, the ministry said.
Lee yesterday said he is concerned about the nation’s diplomatic relations with Palau, after China seemingly pressured that country and the Vatican into banning their nationals from visiting Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) cited Beijing’s group tourism embargo on the Vatican and Palau, and asked Lee to comment on China’s intentions and the security of Taiwan’s ties with the two diplomatic allies.
Lee said that he has spent a significant amount of time and energy on Palau.
“I have been been picking my brains about the situation,” he said, adding that MOFA Director-General of East Asia and Pacific Affairs Winston Chen (陳文儀) is dealing with the situation.
While Chinese comprise the largest share of tourists to Palau, the latter country’s diplomatic policy is not solely guided by concerns for its tourism industry, Lee said.
When asked by Chiang how he would grade the Taiwan-Palau relationship on a scale of “red,” “yellow” and “green,” Lee said: “It is between yellow and green.”
Asked by Chuang about the nation’s ties with the Holy See, Lee said: “We have a good grip on it and we are confident.”
The nation’s relationship with Palau has experienced difficulties, but they were unrelated to Beijing’s tourism ban and has stabilized, a source said on condition of anonymity.
However, a reshuffling of the nation’s mission in Palau — led by Ambassador Michael Tseng (曾永光) — might take place soon, the source said.
Regarding the Honduran presidential election on Monday, Lee said that the ruling and opposition parties are running neck-and-neck, adding that the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal is expected to announce the election results today.
The ministry has made contact with, and understands the agendas of, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla, Lee said.
Additional reporting by CNA
TENSE SITUATION: If the storm does not bring rain, Taiwan might have to wait until next month amid water scarcity in the center and south, an expert said Typhoon Surigae is to bring rain to the nation’s east coast and mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan from Wednesday to Friday, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 1,170km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The radius of the storm was 280km, and it was moving northwest at 9kph, with a maximum wind speed of 198kph. The bureau forecasts that the storm would switch to a northerly direction when approaching the east coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines on Wednesday, CWB forecaster Lin Ding-yi (林定宜) said, adding that Surigae would
SEEKING CLARITY: Some members of the US delegation asked KMT legislators in a meeting to address their party’s position on the so-called ‘1992 consensus,’ sources said A US delegation tasked by US President Joe Biden to reaffirm the country’s commitment to its partnership with Taiwan yesterday wrapped up a three-day visit to Taipei. Former US senator Chris Dodd, former US deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, and US Department of State Office of Taiwan Coordination Director Dan Biers departed at 11:20am on a private jet. The members of the delegation, all friends of Biden, arrived on Wednesday and met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and other government officials. During the three-day visit, the delegation also met with six members of the Legislative
Taipei’s street names should reflect a “Taiwanese spirit,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said in an online video released yesterday, in which he asked why many of them are named after locations in China. In a three-minute video uploaded to a Facebook page called “Taiwanese Uncle Ko Wen-je” (台灣阿北柯文哲), the mayor suggested changing the names of Taipei streets. The page’s banner was a photograph of Ko on Jade Mountain’s (玉山) main peak. The page was closed at about noon, about four hours after it was made public. Ko said that street names in the capital named “Ningxia,” “Tibet,” “Beiping” — an old name for
‘AN EXCUSE’: The intent of Beijing’s incursions was ‘intimidation and coercion,’ a senior US official said, adding that China was using the US to justify its actions Chinese carrier drills and stepped-up incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the past few weeks are meant to send a message to Washington to stand down and back off, security sources in Taipei said. The increased activity — which China, unusually, described as “combat drills” on Wednesday — has raised alarm in both Taipei and Washington, although security officials do not see it as a sign of an imminent attack. Rather, at least some of the exercises are practicing “access denial” maneuvers to prevent foreign forces from coming to Taipei’s defense in a war, one official familiar with Taiwan’s security
RSS