President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday visited the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei to express her condolences following the death of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, but her visit ended up being overshadowed by a spelling mistake.
Accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維), Tsai arrived at the office at about 11am yesterday to pay tribute to the Thai king, who passed away on Thursday last week at the age of 88 after a 70-year reign.
Office Executive Director Piroon Laismit then showed Tsai a number of photographs hung on a wall of a makeshift mourning room that featured King Bhumibol on a visit to Taiwan in 1963.
Photo: CNA
“After seeing the pictures, Tsai said she still has memories of the 1963 visit. These pieces of history demonstrated the close and long-standing friendship between Thailand and Taiwan,” Laismit told reporters after the visit.
In a news release issued afterward, the Presidential Office quoted Tsai as saying that King Bhumibol exercised wise and compassionate leadership, and was greatly beloved by Thais during his reign.
“He led the country through a stable transformation into a modern state, and was deeply respected in the international community for his outstanding contributions,” the Presidential Office said.
Photo: CNA
However, Tsai’s visit quickly attracted criticism after it was discovered that she misspelled “Thailand” in a message she left in a book of condolences at the representative office.
“On behalf of the people of the Republic of China (Taiwan), I hereby extend my most profound condolences to the Royal Family and the people of Tailand [sic] for their loss of a great leader, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej,” Tsai wrote in the book.
The Presidential Office later yesterday said that Tsai has explained the misspelling and apologized to Thai authorities through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The Thai government said the situation is understandable and expressed gratitude to Tsai and the nation for the care and concern they have demonstrated for the Thai people,” the Presidential Office said.
It also rejected speculation that Tsai is planning to lead a delegation to Thailand to pay her respects in person, saying that the president has no such plan.
Local media yesterday reported that Tsai initially planned to fly to Thailand to pay tribute, but later scrapped the trip due to the absence of formal diplomatic ties between Taipei and Bangkok.
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
RSS