Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) will travel to the US tomorrow to attend the 2004 World Forum in Colorado.
Chen said he would attend the event while speaking at an informal gathering for the first anniversary of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, an organization promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and supported by the Legislative Yuan.
The World Forum is an annual conference of government officials, legislators, business and financial leaders and academics, which is sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute.
Chen said that he was invited by US Vice President Dick Cheney to the annual conference June 17-20.
Chen is expected to stay in the US for a week before returning home. Afterward, he plans to travel to Europe in July to chair a meeting of the chiefs of Taiwan's representative offices in the region.
Meanwhile, Chen said on the same occasion that the ministry hopes that the donations to Costa Rica will be put to their designated purposes, although Taiwan respects the decisions of the Central American nation.
Chen was responding to an AFP report that said five conservative Costa Rican legislators have accused their foreign minister, Roberto Tovar, of diverting funds donated by the Taiwanese government for unauthorized uses.
The report quoted the legislators as saying that the foreign ministry had diverted some US$4.8 million in funds from Taiwan intended to develop trade and tourism in Costa Rica to pay foreign ministry salaries and bonuses.
Chen said that Taiwan has always been clear about its financial aid to other countries, and "soft assistance" plans are usually used on such items as trade and tourism.
Although Taiwan respects the wishes of the recipients, it hopes that they will not divert money randomly in such a way as to undermine possible future donations on such things as schools and hospitals.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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