The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday remained mum after it was reported that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) planned to make two state visits to the nation’s diplomatic allies this year, with the government reportedly aiming for the politically significant US city of New York as the transit stop for her second trip.
Citing an anonymous source, the Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper yesterday reported that the ministry is planning two state visits for Tsai, one in the first half of the year and another in the second half.
For her first trip, Tsai is to travel to Palau, Nauru and Kiribati, the three diplomatic allies in the South Pacific that she has not yet visited since taking office in May 2016, the report said.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The decision was made in light of visits to Taiwan by Palauan President Tommy Remengesau and Nauruan President Baron Divavesi Waqa in November last year and earlier this month respectively, the reports said.
With regard to the second trip, the report said that the ministry is planning for Tsai to visit Haiti, as well as Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
“Our side is going to communicate with the US and hope that New York, which is not far away from Washington and carries certain political significance, could be chosen as the transit stop, which would be seen as a breakthrough during Tsai’s first term,” the report said, citing the anonymous source.
The Tsai administration also hopes that activities that could be counted as “diplomatic breakthroughs” would be planned for the transit, it said.
Former presidents Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) transited through New York during their terms.
The report also quoted an anonymous government official as saying that, as Tsai’s road to re-election might be a bumpy one considering the results of the local elections, good performance during her state visits would have a positive effect if she decided to run for re-election.
In response, the ministry yesterday said that arranging state visits for the president has always been one of its key missions.
“It is part of the ministry’s plan to continue to arrange state visits for the president,” it said, adding that media reports on the matter were merely based on speculation and the Presidential Office would make an announcement if and when there are concrete plans.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai