Taiwan's assistance in training the Solomon Islands police force is based on mutual cooperation agreements reached during the first Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit held last September, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
The ministry made the remarks in response to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday which said that 12 Solomon Islands police officers had been sent to Taiwan for special training.
The article said that Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had criticized the Australian government for interfering in the nation's internal affairs after he refused to continue to be guarded by armed Australian officers.
All police officers on the islands were disarmed in 2003 when Australia led a regional intervention force to restore order after years of ethnic violence.
Of the 314 police officers from the Pacific region deployed in the Solomons, 230 are Australian, the Australian newspaper said.
Ministry Spokesman David Wang (
Taiwan's help in maintaining social order and safety in the Solomon Islands was one part of the plan that was reached in the Palau Declaration signed during the first Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit on Sept. 4 last year when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) attended the summit along with seven of the nation's oceanic allies, Wang said.
According to the fourth article of the declaration, it was agreed to enhance cooperation in many fields and the first area was "law enforcement training."
It noted that "additional or expanded programs were needed to detect and prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism, international trafficking of persons, illegal border crossings and customs irregularities.
"Cooperation shall be coordinated to improve the practical training of each country's law enforcement or other relevant personnel and administration, relating both to land and sea," it said.
"This training [of the Solomons police force] is based on the goal of maintaining social order and preventing terrorism. We are by no means interfering in any country's domestic affairs," Wang said.
Wang also said that the ministry would request its representative in Australia correct "inaccurate reporting," he added.
Wang had no comment on whether the Australian government had pressured Taiwan to drop a firearms component from the training course, which was also mentioned in the Herald's report.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
RSS