The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it would endeavor to consolidate its ties with the nation’s last remaining African ally, Eswatini, to the best of its ability after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) pledged US$60 billion in financial support for projects in Africa.
Asked whether the ministry is worried the financial support could affect Taiwan’s 50 years of relations with Eswatini Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Liu Bang-zyh (劉邦治) said the money would certainly create pressure on Eswatini.
“The ministry will keep a close eye on the issue, while doing our best to strengthen our relations with the African nation,” Liu told a routine news conference in Taipei.
Xi made the pledges at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on Monday in Beijing, which was attended by representatives from the 53 African nations that have formal diplomatic relations with China.
The financial support is to be provided in the form of loans, investment and government assistance, Xi said, adding that China would also write off its interest-free loans to indebted African nations that are not paid off by the end of this year.
Liu said to his knowledge, Eswatini did not receive an invitation to the forum, despite Beijing’s repeatedly stated determination to bring the nation into its fold.
“I believe our ties with Eswatini are strong at the moment,” Liu said, citing as an example the participation of seven Taiwanese companies at the ongoing 11-day Eswatini International Trade Fair in Manzini.
In November, the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association is to lead an agricultural business scouting delegation to Eswatini at the behest of the government, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has endeavored to keep its last African ally as China has stepped up efforts to poach Taiwan’s diplomatic allies.
Beijing has converted five former Taiwanese allies in the past two years.
Tsai in April instructed the National Security Council to propose an “Africa Project” to increase the nation’s presence in Africa after concluding her state visit to Eswatini that month.
The ministry has also earmarked more than NT$600 million (US$19.5 million) in diplomatic spending for West Asia and Africa next year, an increase of almost NT$400 million, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported on Saturday.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift