The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering directly transferring public donations for Japanese earthquake victims to the Japanese Red Cross Society after the local chapter came under fire over its slow handling of the relief funds.
The ministry, which handed over government donations of NT$100 million (US$3.44 million) to the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China (ROC) last month, had previously said it hoped public donations — totaling NT$272 million — would be handled in the same manner.
However, amid growing public criticism over the delay in the local Red Cross’ transfer of the funds to Japan, the ministry said yesterday that it was now considering alternatives.
“We do not rule out having the [Taipei Economic and Cultural] Representative Office in Tokyo transfer the donations to Japan,” Wu Rong-chuan (吳榮泉), vice chairman of the ministry’s NGO Affairs Commission, told a regular press conference.
The ministry would wire the donations to Japan “in a speedy and direct manner” to meet public expectations, as “we know people hope the money they contributed will be delivered to Japan in the shortest time possible,” he said.
The special donations account opened by the ministry on March 11 soon after the massive earthquake struck northeast Japan will be operational until May 30.
Wu said the ministry would transfer the first batch of donations in the coming days, while the remainder would be transferred to Japan after the donation account closes next month.
Aside from cash donations, Wu said the ministry had delivered 557.85 tonnes out of the 558 tonnes of relief material donated by the public.
Governmental data showed that as of yesterday, Taiwan had raised a total of NT$4.01 billion in relief funds, with NT$3.657 billion coming from nine private institutions and NT$392.8 million from 14 government agencies.
Red Cross Society of the ROC deputy secretary-general Robert Hsieh (謝昭隆) said on Monday the organization could transfer the rest of the donations to Japan all at once after the organization came under heavy criticism for disbursing only US$15 million to Japan as of Wednesday last week, about a quarter of the NT$1.87 billion in donations it has received.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan
RSS