More than 100 Kiribatian students studying in Taiwan, 50 of them on government scholarships, are facing an uncertain future after diplomatic relations with the Pacific nation ended on Friday.
Taipei on Friday announced that it was cutting diplomatic ties with Kiribati, which had announced that it was switching allegiance to Beijing.
Kiribati was the second diplomatic ally lost to China this week after the Solomon Islands made the same decision on Monday.
Photo provided by Southern Taiwan University of Technology and Science via CNA
There are 110 students from Kiribati studying in Taiwan, with 50 of them on scholarships provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education said.
Education officials said that they would respect whatever decision the foreign ministry made over what to do with the scholarships, while the foreign ministry said it would ask the students’ institutions to assist the students.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said that her ministry was discussing options, with a decision expected in the next few days.
As a general practice, Taiwan would stop granting scholarships to students from countries that sever ties, Ou said.
On Tuesday, one day after the Solomon Islands cut ties, Ou said that the government would continue to provide scholarships to Solomon Islands students, but only until the end of the semester.
There are about 20 students from Kiribati studying at Tamkang University.
University officials said that the fate of those students depends largely on arrangements by the Kiribatian government.
However, if the students opt to finish their studies in Taiwan, the university’s administration is willing to help them get discounts on tuition and other fees, university officials said.
At Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, where 15 Kiribatian students are enrolled, eight of them are recipients of full scholarships, one was granted a half scholarship and six are studying there at their own expense.
Many Kiribatian students went to the university’s office to ask about their future after hearing the news that diplomatic ties had been severed, a university official said, adding that it would take care of the students if they stay.
A Kiribatian student said that she felt sad upon hearing the diplomatic news, but the only thing she and her compatriots can do is wait for instructions from the Kiribati embassy.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,