Turkish Representative to Taiwan Muzaffer Eroktem said yesterday that Taiwan’s plan to open a representative office in Istanbul would proceed without delay, but he didn’t give a timeframe.
“The matter is pending,” the outgoing envoy told reporters in English on the sidelines of a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to award him the Friendship Medal of Diplomacy in recognition of his contributions to strengthening bilateral ties.
However, some processes still needed to be completed, he said, refusing to say if opposition from Beijing was behind delays in the plan. Taiwan made the proposal about a year ago.
Erkotem — who has served in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 45 years and whose first and last overseas postings were in Taiwan in 1970-1971 and from 2008 until now — said he would become a visiting academic.
“I am not going to ‘retire.’ After I return to Turkey, I will continue to follow subjects [that I did] not complete during my tenure in Taipei … on aspects of culture and tourism in particular,” he said.
Praising Eroktem as a “highly skilled diplomat” and “an old friend of ours,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said bilateral relations had “become noticeably stronger” since Eroktem returned to Taipei two years ago.
Turkey is a key trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$960 million at the end of July, an increase of 62 percent compared with the same period last year, Yang said.
“We expect to set a new record this year,” he said.
Taiwan and Turkey also enjoy vibrant cultural exchanges, with both nations frequently inviting outstanding performers, groups and people to visit, Yang said.
The significant increase in the number of Taiwanese visiting Turkey was another indication that Eroktem’s efforts to promote his country has paid off, Yang said.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
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