The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday confirmed a Pacific Magazine report that Taiwan helped to pay Kiribati’s debt to Air Pacific, but denied the figure was US$3 million as reported.
The bailout plan was a “one-time arrangement” based on certain conditions, said Victor Yu (于德勝), head of the ministry’s Department of East Asia and Pacific Affairs.
The width of Kiribati, if measured from the easternmost island to the furthest west, is almost the same as the width of the continental US, and the flight that links Kiribati’s capital, Tarawa, to Hawaii via Christmas Island was the country’s major connection to the outside world, Yu told the Taipei Times.
Pacific Magazine said the charter flight was halted because Kiribati had defaulted on its payments to the Fiji-based airline since February this year.
The report also said Taiwan paid more than US$3 million to help resume the service and that the funding included advance payments up to next January.
Yu refused to divulge the exact amount of the aid package, but said the figure was well below the reported number.
The suspension of the air route could deal a severe blow to Kiribati’s economy, he said.
Yu said Taiwan agreed to step in after a thorough review that concluded its ally was facing an emergency.
“Unlike what the report said, we did not pay off the entire debt for Kiribati. We only paid for some of the reserved seats to enable Kiribati officials to fly in and out of the island for the purpose of economic and commercial matters,” Yu said.
Yu said the bailout plan was part of the nation’s annual aid to the pacific island and that Taiwan had made it clear that this was a one-time deal based on the urgency of the situation.
Kiribati forged diplomatic ties with Taipei in 2003 after it switched allegiance from Beijing.
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
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
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
RSS