Taiwan is deliberating plans to bolster cooperation with the Estonian Center for International Development to help rebuild Ukraine, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
Tsai welcomed a delegation led by Estonian Member of Parliament Kristo Enn Vaga to Taiwan and thanked them for showing support for the nation with concrete actions.
The Estonian government and the group have been voicing support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO for four consecutive years while Vaga — who is chairman of the Estonia-Taiwan Friendship Group — has repeatedly called for Taiwan’s international participation, she said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Taiwan and Estonia share the universal values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and are at the forefront of fighting the expansion of authoritarianism, she said.
The two countries have also been supporting Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022, including a new plan aiming to provide practical assistance for infrastructure rebuilding, the president said.
She called for the delegation’s help to promote exchanges between Taiwan and Estonia in information and communications technology, and precision machinery, as well as expanding cooperation in other fields.
Vaga said that the trip is to demonstrate the Estonian parliament’s cross-party support for Taiwan and the country’s commitment to deepening ties with democratic partners under its values-based foreign policy.
The delegation is working hard to find the best possibilities to open a Taiwanese representative office in Tallinn, he said.
Estonia hopes to work with Taiwan on the development and adoption of new technologies, which would help benefit the people and extend democracy, he said.
Taiwan’s dedication to helping Ukraine amid constant threats and pressure from China demonstrates its commitment to promoting democracy around the world, he said.
On Wednesday, the delegation attended a banquet hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), who said he hoped the delegation — comprising eight first-time visitors to Taiwan — would gain a deeper understanding of the nation’s democratic way of life.
The cooperation between Taiwan and Estonia in helping Ukraine is a show of unity between democratic countries, which can help bolster the resilience of global democracy, Wu said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the delegation met with Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Ko said that he was impressed by the digitalization of the Estonian government during his visit to the European country in 2020, when he was Taipei mayor.
Estonia has many islands and is sparsely populated, which led to the need for digitalization, Vaga said.
More than half of the votes for the Estonian parliamentary election in March last year were conducted online, he said, adding that personal asset management and marriage registration can also be completed via the Internet.
Ko spoke with Vaga, who was formerly a professional cyclist, about a one-day cycling trip he completed from Taipei to Kaohsiung last month.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
STILL ON THE TABLE: The government is not precluding advanced nuclear power generation if it is proven safer and the nuclear waste issue is solved, the premier said Taiwan is willing to be in step with the world by considering new methods of nuclear energy generation and to discuss alternative approaches to provide more stable power generation and help support industries, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. The government would continue to develop diverse and green energy solutions, which include considering advances in nuclear energy generation, he added. Cho’s remarks echoed President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments in an interview last month, saying the government is not precluding “advanced and newer nuclear power generation” if it is proven to be safer and the issue of nuclear waste is resolved. Lai’s comment had
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
RSS