President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is on his first state visit to Africa, promised yesterday more development assistance to Burkina Faso and lauded a hospital built with Taiwanese help.
Ma embarked on a 12-day tour of three allied nations in Africa — Burkina Faso, Gambia and Swaziland — on Saturday. He arrived in Burkina Faso on Sunday.
Ma was greeted by Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore at the airport, where he was welcomed with full military honors, complete with a 21-gun salute.
Photo: CNA
A group of local people also greeted Ma with a rendition of Kao Shan Ching, a famous Taiwanese Aboriginal folk song.
In talks, Ma told Compaore that Taiwan was hoping to expand scholarships for Burkinabe students to encourage them to study in Taiwan, as part of the country’s efforts to become a center of higher education in East Asia.
In addition, Ma said Taiwan would provide more assistance to Burkina Faso in the areas of education, medical care, transportation and agriculture.
Compaore expressed his appreciation to Taiwan for sponsoring a project dubbed “A Lamp Lighting up Africa,” which allows local students to study at night by the light of solar-powered LED lamps.
Compaore said the project was very helpful because there is an energy shortage in Burkina Faso, which imports half of its energy from Ivory Coast.
Ma said Taiwan and Burkina Faso were not only political and economic allies, but also partners in promoting regional peace.
Ma also toured the National Blaise Compaore Hospital, which was built with assistance from Taiwan.
“We toured the hospital and the birthing training center this morning, and while we slowly came to realize that diplomatic work for the ROC [Republic of China] is very hard, we are happy to say that the results are very rewarding,” Ma told a press conference in the evening.
The hospital was built by Taiwanese companies and funded by the private and banking sectors. This has proven a successful model, Ma said, adding that he hoped the hospital would prosper and help Burkina Faso and other West African countries.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government decided to withhold information about a planned refueling stopover in Mumbai, India, en route to Africa based on an agreement with Indian authorities, dismissing allegations that Ma had deliberately deceived the public.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said the stopover was aimed at building mutual trust with India and ensuring that “nothing unexpected [in bilateral relations] would happen.”
Ma’s plane landed the previous day at Chhatrapati Shivaji -International Airport in Mumbai for refueling before continuing on to Africa.
The ministry had previously announced that Ma’s plane would make a refueling stopover in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and informed the media of the change only at the last minute.
In a report on Sunday, the Press Trust of India described it as a “surprise stopover” and said the Mumbai Air Traffic Control that was informed about an hour before the plane landed.
Critics in Taiwan have accused the government of misleading the public.
Yang said the change from Dubai to Mumbai was because of -adjustments in the president’s itinerary, which had originally included Sao Tome and Principe, with Swaziland being the first leg.
After Sao Tome and Principe was removed from the itinerary, the ministry decided to make Burkina Faso the first leg of Ma’s tour and Swaziland the final leg, Yang said.
Yang said the fact that -Taiwan’s request was approved demonstrated the success of the “flexible diplomacy” policy promoted by the government over the past four years.
However, he said it would be inappropriate to describe the refueling stop as a “diplomatic breakthrough.”
With translation by Jake Chung, staff writer
Tropical Storm Koinu is expected to come closest to Taiwan from Wednesday through Friday as it passes through the Bashi Channel, but it remained uncertain how it would affect the weather, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am yesterday, Koinu was about 1,000km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving northwest at 12kph, the CWA said. Koinu is likely to strengthen into a typhoon today or tomorrow and turn west as it enters the Bashi Channel to the south of Taiwan proper, CWA forecaster Chao Hung (趙竑) said. The storm’s trajectory is still unclear, so more time is
Taichung prosecutors yesterday indicted three people on charges of fraud for allegedly passing off watches assembled in Taiwan as Swiss-made timepieces and earning NT$400 million (US$12.4 million) in illicit gains. The Taichung branch office of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said in a statement that the group, headed by Mei Hua Precision Industry Co (梅華精密) and Laora Trading Co (仁徠貿易) manager Yang Hung-pin (楊鴻斌), had purchased the rights to use the Swiss trademark Ogival years ago and from November 2006 to December 2020 sold 26,282 counterfeit watches in department stores and online platforms in Taiwan. The branch office said they received
PALAU LAUNCHES: The source said that Taiwanese military personnel traveled to Palau, where a US brigade watched their work amid plans for a defense network The military last month participated in live-fire launches of MM-104F Patriot (PAC-3) missiles under US observation in an undisclosed location in Palau, a step forward in a US-led plan to create a joint defense missile system in the first island chain, a source said on condition of anonymity. The PAC-3 is the mainstay surface-to-air missile of the US, NATO and democratic nations in East Asia, the source said, adding that it has never been live-tested within Taiwan’s borders, the source said. The proximity of Taiwan to China and China’s close surveillance of the nation’s borders and nearby sea zones is a significant
TRAJECTORY: Koinu’s outer rim is expected to reach Orchid Island early tomorrow and Taitung at about noon, where waves of at least 6m are forecast A sea warning for Typhoon Koinu was issued at 11:30pm last night, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that a land warning could be issued today. High waves of about 2m were observed in Taitung yesterday, while waves of 6m or higher were forecast for today, said Huang Chia-mei (黃嘉美), head of the CWA’s Taitung Weather Station. At noon yesterday, Koinu was about 660km southeast of Taitung, she said, adding that it was moving more to the north and its center could possibly make landfall. The storm’s outer rim would likely reach Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) in the early hours tomorrow and