Singapore has reportedly denied entry to Veterans Affairs Council Director Lee Shying-jow (李翔宙), who was on his way to visit veterans of the Republic of China (ROC) armed forces residing in Singapore, despite a tacit agreement that the visit had been approved, a media report said.
Representative to Singapore Liang Kuo-hsing (梁國興) could not be reached on his cellphone yesterday for comment.
Council officials did not deny the report, but they refused to comment on it.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Lee, who was on his way to Thailand, had planned the stopover with the tacit approval of the Singaporean government, the report said.
Last month, Hong Kong customs authorities seized armored vehicles belonging to Singapore’s military that arrived in the territory on their way back from Taiwan after a training exercise permitted by a defense agreement with Taiwan.
The report of Lee’s denied entry and the Hong Kong incident have prompted concern that Beijing is pressuring Singapore over its ties with Taiwan.
Sources said Lee’s high status — he once served as deputy minister of national defense, a commander of the ROC Army, director-general of the National Security Bureau and as a senior presidential adviser — might have prompted concern from Singapore or Beijing.
Lee’s visit to Singapore was arranged after he was invited to attend a semi-official event in Thailand by the Thai royal family’s agricultural foundation at the end of this month.
Lee said it was appropriate that he should visit Singapore on his way to Thailand, an unnamed official at the Veterans Affairs Council told online outlet Up Media.
Another purpose of Lee’s visit to Thailand was to pay respects to the family of Sung Ching-yun (宋慶雲), a Taiwanese agricultural expert working in the kingdom who recently died there, Up Media quoted the official as saying.
The official said the council frequently assisted diplomatic efforts in the US by interacting with retired US military personnel, many of whom remained influential in military and intelligence circles or had since became politicians, according to Up Media.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
RSS