The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday announced that it is to reopen a representative office in Guam, citing the growing strategic importance of the Pacific region and a strong Taiwan-US partnership.
Preparations for reopening the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Guam were already under way, the ministry said yesterday in a statement.
The de facto embassy in the US’ unincorporated, organized territory was closed in August 2017 during the tenure of former minister of foreign affairs David Lee (李大維), along with offices in Norway and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Due to budget and personnel considerations, the government in 2017 deemed it necessary to temporarily halt operation of the office in Guam, the ministry said.
With the ministry’s budget rising steadily from 2018, Taiwan and the US have forged an increasingly strong global partnership and the strategic importance of the Pacific region has continued to grow, leading to the ministry’s decision to reinstate the office, it said.
The US has paid increased attention to the Pacific region, as it launched the US Indo-Pacific Strategy in 2018, and the Indo-Pacific Strategy Report and a report titled A Free and Open Indo-Pacific: Advancing a Shared Vision last year, the ministry said.
Re-establishing the representative office in Guam would facilitate economic and trade cooperation, and exchanges between Taiwan and the greater western Pacific region, deepen relations with its Pacific allies and increase multilateral exchanges, it said.
Taiwan in September last year lost two Pacific allies — the Solomon Islands and Kiribati — within a week amid Beijing’s pressure.
It now maintains formal relations with 15 nations, including four in the Pacific — Palau, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.
In 2017 and 2018, then-Guam governor Eddie Calvo led delegations to Taiwan and expressed his support for re-establishing the office when he met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), as well as boosting bilateral tourism and economic exchanges, the ministry said.
Taiwan maintains steady economic and trade relations with Guam, as Taiwanese enterprises — such as Lih Pao Construction (麗寶建設), Chung Kuo Insurance (兆豐保險), First Commercial Bank (第一商銀), Asia Cement Corp (亞泥) and China Airlines (華航) — have invested in the territory, it said.
Medical tourism from Guam to Taiwan has also gained momentum, it added.
After the reopening of the Guam office, the number of representative offices in the US would increase to 13: Washington, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Chicago, Honolulu, Denver, Miami and Guam, the ministry said.
CALL FOR PEACE: Czech President Petr Pavel raised concerns about China’s military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and its ‘unfriendly action’ in the South China Sea The leaders of three diplomatic allies — Guatemala, Paraguay and Palau — on Tuesday voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN on the first day of the UN General Debate in New York. In his address during the 78th UN General Assembly, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr urged the UN and all parties involved in cross-strait issues to exercise restraint and seek a peaceful resolution. “The well-being and prosperity of nations and their economies are intrinsically linked to global peace and stability,” he said. He also thanked partner nations such as Taiwan, Australia, Japan and the US for providing assistance
CROSS-STRAIT CONCERNS: At the same US Congress hearing, Mira Resnick said a US government shutdown could affect weapons sales and licenses to allies such as Taiwan A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be a “monster risk” for Beijing and likely to fail, while a military invasion would be extremely difficult, senior Pentagon officials told the US Congress on Tuesday. Growing worries of a conflict come as China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan, holding large-scale war games simulating a blockade on the nation, while conducting near-daily warplane incursions and sending Chinese vessels around its waters. US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said a blockade would be “a monster risk for the PRC [People’s Republic of China].” “It would likely not succeed, and it
‘HARASSMENT’: A record 103 Chinese warplanes were detected in 24 hours, posing severe challenges to security in the Taiwan Strait and the region, the ministry said Taiwan yesterday told China to stop its “destructive unilateral actions” after more than 100 Chinese warplanes and nine navy ships were detected in areas around the nation. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) described the number of warplanes detected in 24 hours as a “recent high,” while Beijing has so far refrained from issuing any official comment on the sorties. “Between the morning of September 17th to 18th, the Ministry of National Defense had detected a total of 103 Chinese aircraft, which was a recent high and has posed severe challenges to the security across the Taiwan Strait and in the region,”
IMPORTS: Fifty-four million imported eggs with a value of more than NT$200 million had to be destroyed, mostly because they expired in storage facilities Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) last night announced that he would resign from his post. Local media on Sunday reported that Chen had resigned due to controversy over the ministry’s egg import program. Later that same evening, the Executive Yuan said that Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) had asked the minister to stay on to resolve the issue. Chen Chi-chung last night made public his decision to resign on Facebook, saying that this time he would not be dissuaded. Chen Chi-chung earlier yesterday apologized for the furor surrounding the egg import program, but added that misinformation had made the problems worse. The government was
RSS