President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday made a phone call to Nicaraguan president-elect Daniel Ortega to extend his congratulations.
According to a report by the Central News Agency (CNA) yesterday, a high-ranking Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said on condition of anonymity that Chen and Ortega had a "good conversation on the phone."
cooperation
Both sides agreed to promote cooperation in medical, agricultural and educational projects, the unidentified official said, adding that Ortega said on the phone that he was willing to enhance all cooperative projects with Taiwan.
During his campaign for the presidency, Ortega had said that if elected, Nicaragua would break off diplomatic relations with Taiwan and set up ties with China.
Concerned about Taiwan's relations with the Latin American country, Chen and Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (
challenge
Ortega will be sworn in as president January, and the foreign ministry viewed the two months before Ortega's inauguration as a stern challenge for the two countries' relations, the official was quoted as saying in the report.
Following Ortega's election win, China has openly voiced its willingness to establish diplomatic ties with Nicaragua.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
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The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
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