The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Community Affairs Council have proposed classified budgets for next year exceeding NT$1.5 billion and NT$100 million (US$48.81 million and US$3.25 million) respectively, an unnamed government official familiar with the matter said.
The diplomatic situation is “difficult,” and the classified budget was created by the ministry to secure the nation’s diplomatic allies, the source said.
It includes loans allies need for infrastructure, as well as funding for cooperative projects and other items, the source said.
Due to China’s efforts to suppress Taiwan’s international space, President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has lost five diplomatic allies since she took office in May 2016.
The ministry has proposed a classified budget for next year of NT$1.5581 billion, the source said.
Although that is NT$7.627 million less than this year’s classified budget, it will be the second consecutive year that the ministry’s classified budget has exceeded NT$1.5 billion, the source said.
Its classified budget last year was NT$442.487 million, the source added.
The council has designated NT$102.888 million for classified spending next year, the source said.
Classified spending would make up about 7.84 percent of the council’s proposed overall budget of NT$1.312881 billion next year, according its proposal, the source said.
The council’s classified budget would be used to provide subsidies and grants to overseas compatriot communities and overseas Taiwanese businesses, the source said.
As the subsidies the council has given to overseas compatriot communities in previous years have involved national interests, to maintain harmony among them and resist China’s “united front” tactics, the council has been unable to publish the details of this spending online, the source said.
Many leaders of overseas compatriot communities are worried that once funding details are made public, they would come under pressure, the source added.
However, many have accused the council of a lack of transparency, local media has reported.
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said that the council last year began designating its subsidies to overseas compatriot communities as classified spending at the request of the legislature.
Meanwhile, the ministry is expected to invest a large portion of its classified spending, nearly NT$670 million, in West Asia and Africa next year, a nearly NT$400 million, or 59 percent, increase from this year, its budget proposal showed.
Since the nation only has one remaining diplomatic ally in Africa, Eswatini, apart from boosting diplomatic relations in Africa, the ministry also plans to use the increased funding to work on relations with non-diplomatic allies in Africa, the ministry said in its proposal.
The ministry has also allocated about NT$290 million — an increase of about NT$79 million from last year — to investments in the Asia-Pacific region, where several of the nation’s diplomatic allies are, its budget proposal showed.
The ministry said it is to continue its efforts to push for mutual visits and exchanges between top-level officials from the nation and its diplomatic allies to deepen ties among them.
It will also seek to address the needs of its diplomatic allies in social and economic development, pushing for bilateral and multilateral cooperative projects under a principle of mutual cooperation, the ministry said.
At the same time, the ministry is to improve relations with non-diplomatic allies, including pushing for mutual visits between government officials and negotiating bilateral agreements, it said.
Additional reporting by Peng Wan-hsin
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai