President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday promised to give “priority consideration” to an invitation from Panama for her to attend the inauguration ceremony of the expanded Panama Canal on June 26.
Tsai made the remarks during a meeting with Panamian Ambassador Alfredo Martiz, who delivered the invitation from Panamanian President Juan Carlos Valera for the canal’s inauguration to Tsai in person.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) was also invited.
Photo: CNA
“Ambassador Martiz congratulated Tsai on her election win [on Jan. 16] and said that, since the years-long construction is important to Panama, it has invited all its diplomatic allies, as well as important users of the canal, to take part,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Ruan Jhao-syong (阮昭雄) said after the meeting behind closed doors at party headquarters in Taipei.
“Tsai thanked the Panamanian president for his sincere invitation and though the inauguration ceremony is only one month after the presidential inauguration on May 20, she would give it priority consideration,” Ruan said.
At the meeting, Tsai and Martiz discussed potential cooperation between the two nations, including in the biotechnology, “renewable” energy, telecommunications and medical industries.
In response to media queries about Panama’s invitation for Xi to attend the ceremony — with some politicians and political commentators speculating that Panama might be expressing a desire to establish formal diplomatic ties with China through the invitation — Martiz said that diplomatic ties between Taipei and Panama City remain firm.
“The Panama Canal is open to the international world; this is the answer to this question, but Taiwan is our ally and we have a relationship with them,” Martiz said in English. “That’s why we are here to show the people in Taiwan the relationship between Taiwan and Panama is [a] very good one.”
“No need to be afraid. Feel happy. Panama and Taiwan, they are good friends,” he added.
Although Tsai has not said whether she would attend the event, most DPP legislators said they would support a decision to go.
“If the first occasion for the leaders from both sides [of the Taiwan Strait] to meet is to be in Panama — in an international setting — it would not be a bad thing,” DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said. “However, Tsai should be clear that the meeting would not be ‘accidental,’ if it happens.”
Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said it was not certain that Tsai and Xi would meet, even if they both attended the event.
“China has always tried to avoid meetings between leaders from both sides at international events, so I think the possibility of Tsai meeting with Xi in Panama is not too high,” Lo said.
However, Lo said Tsai should accept the invitation regardless of the possibility of a meeting with the Chinese leader, as it would be an important event that leaders from many countries would attend and it would be beneficial for Tsai to interact with them.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators also voiced support for Tsai’s potential trip to Panama.
KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) said Taiwan is facing great challenges in diplomacy, so if there is a chance for the future president to engage in international interactions that are helpful to the nation, the KMT would not oppose the trip.
KMT Legislator John Wu (吳志揚) said Tsai “has to go,” regardless of China’s attitude.
Meanwhile, China reacted frostily yesterday.
Asked whether Xi would attend the ceremony and if he might meet Tsai, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) did not answer directly.
“What I want to point out is that China has always had the ‘one China’ principle as a fundamental precondition for handling and developing relations with countries around the world,” Hong told a daily news briefing, without elaborating.
Additional reporting by Alison Hsiao and Reuters
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from