Nearly 700 heads of states, diplomats and foreign dignitaries from 59 countries around the world are to attend president-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inauguration today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
At a routine news conference yesterday morning, ministry spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said the 59 include Taiwan’s 22 diplomatic allies and 37 that do not have formal ties with Taipei.
“From my understanding, the number of foreign dignitaries attending Tsai’s inauguration ceremony surpasses those in previous years,” Wang said.
Photo: CNA
She said the invitation process this year went “very smoothly.”
The ministry said the US delegation is to be led by former US trade representative Ron Kirk, who is to be accompanied by former US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte, former US Department of State deputy spokesman Alan Romberg, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt and AIT Director Kin Moy.
The Holy See — the nation’s only European diplomatic ally — is sticking with precedent and sending its Apostolic Nuncio to Japan, Archbishop Joseph Chennoth.
Photo: CNA
Chennoth and Vatican’s charge d’affaires ad interim to Taiwan, Monsignor Sladan Cosic, are also to attend Tsai’s state banquet tonight at Taipei’s Marriott Hotel.
Eighteen delegations from other European nations, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Slovakia and Hungary, have arrived for a total of 48 people.
One delegation, led by European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group vice chairman Dominique Riquet, includes former Dutch prime minister Andreas van Agt, former Slovakian prime minister Iveta Radicova and All-Party Parliamentary British-Taiwanese Group co-chairman Lord Faulkner of Worcester.
As for Japan, a delegation of 252 people arrived in Taipei on Wednesday, including Interchange Association, Japan President Tadashi Imai, as well as chief executive and vice chairman of the Japan-Republic of China (ROC) Diet Members’ Consultative Council, Furuya Keiji and Eto Seishiro.
The leaders of Taiwan’s six Asia-Pacific allies are attending: Marshallese President Hilda Heine, Nauruan President Baron Waqa, Tuvaluan Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoaga, Palauan President Tommy Remengesau, Solomon Islands Governor General Frank Ofagioro Kabui and Kiribati President Taneti Maamau.
Other Asian-Pacific states, including South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and India, have all sent delegates to the event.
Leaders and high-level officials of the nation’s diplomatic allies in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean will also attend the ceremony, including Swazi King Mswati III, Burkinabe Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba, Sao Tomean Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Salvador dos Ramos, Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes, Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris, Nicaraguan Vice President Moises Omar Halleslevens Acevedo, as well as the deputy prime ministers of Belize and Saint Vincent, and the legislative speaker of Saint Lucian.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is not able to attend Tsai’s inauguration ceremony as planned due to “internal affairs.”
Instead, he has sent Honduran Supreme Court President Rolando Edgardo Argueta Perez, said Miguel Tsao (曹立傑), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs.
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
DISRUPTIONS: The high-speed rail is to operate as normal, while several airlines either canceled flights or announced early departures or late arrivals Schools and offices in 15 cities and counties are to be closed today due to Typhoon Gaemi, local governments announced last night. The 15 are: Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Tainan, Keelung, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, as well as Yilan, Hualien, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang counties. People should brace for torrential rainfall brought by the storm, with its center forecast to make landfall on the east coast between tonight and tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The agency issued a sea warning for the typhoon at 11:30pm on Monday, followed by a land warning at 11:30am yesterday. As of
CASUALTY: A 70-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in Kaohsiung as the premier warned all government agencies to remain on high alert for the next 24 hours Schools and offices nationwide are to be closed for a second day today as Typhoon Gaemi crosses over the nation, bringing torrential rain and whipping winds. Gaemi was forecast to make landfall late last night. From Tuesday night, its outer band brought substantial rainfall and strong winds to the nation. As of 6:15pm last night, the typhoon’s center was 20km southeast of Hualien County, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed. It was moving at 19kph and had a radius of 250km. As of 3pm yesterday, one woman had died, while 58 people were injured, the Central Emergency Operation Center said. The 70-year-old