The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) yesterday insisted it has received the green light from the Cambodian government to open a Taiwan trade center in Phnom Penh.
TAITRA, a non-profit trade promotion organization affiliated with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, made the remarks in response to media reports that Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen would block the establishment of the office.
In a press statement, TAITRA said it has obtained a “certificate of incorporation” to set up an office in Phnom Penh, which will be registered as the “Branch of Taiwan Trade Center Inc.”
The certificate was issued by the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, TAITRA said.
According to a report published yesterday by the English-language the Cambodia Daily, Hun Sen ordered the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get a local newspaper, Rasmei Kampuchea, to correct a front-page article lifted from the Taipei Times’ news Web site, which said the Cambodian government had approved TAITRA’s plan.
“This story is very sensitive for Cambodia’s foreign affairs policy which implemented the one China policy a long time ago,” Hun Sen was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying.
Cambodia’s official policy does not allow Taiwan to have offices in the country “in any circumstances,” the paper also quoted Hun Sen as saying.
“We do not authorize any [Taiwanese] national ceremonies or the raising of the flag of Taiwan on Cambodia’s land, even in hotels,” Hun Sen added.
“We especially do not allow this as Taiwan is just one province of China,” he told the daily, referring to TAITRA chairman Wang Chih-kang’s (王志剛) statement on Wednesday in Taipei that the center was expected to be officially launched in Phnom Penh next month.
Wang was unable to comment yesterday, but TAITRA issued a statement later yesterday after Wang had finished a meeting.
Wang’s announcement about the center was warmly welcomed by the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, with its director-general, Nguon Meng Tech, reportedly saying on Friday: “I have been waiting for a long time as I had suggested [the Taiwan trade center] to the former minister of commerce [Cham Prasidh] twice, but had no response.”
When asked about his views on Hun Sen’s remarks by the Cambodia Daily, Meng Tech declined to comment about political matters, but insisted that the opening of a Taiwanese trade center in Phnom Penh would be a valuable trade tool.
“Many Taiwanese companies go to invest in Vietnam and it brings in a lot of money, but Cambodia does not receive as much [investment] from Taiwan, that’s why I suggested to the government to have a trade center with Taiwan,” he was quoted as saying in the report.
An official at TAITRA who wished to remain anonymous told the Taipei Times yesterday that the trade organization has not received any information from their counterparts in Cambodia about the Phnom Penh government planning to rescind the certificate.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to