Ambassador to Eswatini Thomas Chen (陳經銓) has been hospitalized in South Africa after he was found seriously ill in his office on June 22, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Chen was first treated in Eswatini after he fell ill, ministry spokesperson Andrew Lee (李憲章) said, but he has since been transferred to a hospital in South Africa after the ministry received permission from Chen’s family.
Lee did not disclose the nature of Chen’s illness, saying only that he fell ill because he had been very busy over the past few months arranging President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) state visit to Eswatini in April and a visit by King Mswati III to Taiwan earlier this month.
Photo: CNA
The head of the nation’s medical mission in Eswatini and a nurse are accompanying Chen at the South African hospital, Lee said.
Swazi King Mswati III, Tsai and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) have all expressed concern over Chen’s hospitalization and have wished him a swift recovery, Lee added.
Chen has served as ambassador to the southern African nation, previously known as Swaziland, since September 2013.
He has previously served as deputy representative to Canada and head of the ministry’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.
The nation’s embassy in Eswatini is currently being headed by Chen’s deputy, Lee said.
Eswatini is the nation’s only remaining diplomatic ally in Africa after Burkina Faso switched recognition to China on May 24.
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