Taiwan's foreign aid is as transparent as it can be and the public should look at it as a national security issue, Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
"All the government's foreign aid is transparent because every single penny has to be reviewed and approved by the Legislative Yuan before it is spent," Chien told reporters in Costa Rica while waiting for a chartered plane to Belize.
The government had a legitimate reason for not revealing the budgets for foreign aid, he said, especially those not earmarked for the forthcoming fiscal year.
"It's easy for those countries to which we intend to provide foreign aid to make comparisons if we disclose the information in advance," Chien said. "Besides, it's not a good idea to let our Chinese counterpart know about our price tag as it [China] doesn't have legislative or public oversight over its use of money."
Chien spoke in response to media criticism that the government is secretive about its foreign aid programs until the details are revealed in international media.
Costa Rican media reported on Monday that Taiwan will donate US$15 million to help Costa Rica build the US$50 million San Carlos highway in addition to an already disclosed US$35 million loan.
Meanwhile, Chien expressed his support for a proposal that the government should set up a fund to offer loans to Taiwanese businessmen interested in investing in the country's diplomatic allies.
"There are two main purposes to establishing diplomatic ties: diplomatic and economic. Successful diplomacy will strengthen a country's economic power and vice versa," Chien said.
"It's indeed a good idea for the government to work more closely with the private sector in terms of expanding its diplomacy. I think the proposal is feasible and the ministry will start evaluating the possibilities," he said.
Day Sheng-tong (
Chien also clarified media speculation that some officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be reassigned.
"The public shouldn't be surprised to see officials of the foreign affairs ministry get new assignments since it's a norm for them to serve at their posts for a fixed period, which is a well-established and universal system," Chien said.
Feng Chi-tai (
"It's inappropriate for me to say anything about it now," he told the Taipei Times in Costa Rica. "However, the speculation is not far from the truth."
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
China’s newest Type-076 amphibious assault ship has two strengths and weaknesses, wrote a Taiwanese defense expert, adding that further observations of its capabilities are warranted. Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓), an assistant researcher at the National Defense and Security Research, made the comments in a report recently published by the institute about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military and political development. China christened its new assault ship Sichuan in a ceremony on Dec. 27 last year at Shanghai’s Hudong Shipyard, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. “The vessel, described as the world’s largest amphibious assault ship by the [US think tank] Center for Strategic and International
RSS