Lawmakers yesterday denounced the Nicaraguan government’s apparent attempt to keep journalists accompanying President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on her ongoing state visit in the dark about Tsai’s meeting with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, saying the move was disrespectful.
Tsai arrived in Nicaragua, the second leg of her nine-day visit to Central American allies, on Monday afternoon, before meeting with Ortega and Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo in the evening.
According to the Chinese-language Apple Daily, the Taiwanese delegation of 35 journalists were taken to a news center set up at a hotel shortly after arriving in Nicaragua and were clueless about Tsai’s itinerary.
They only found out about the president’s meeting with Ortega when one of them turned on the TV at about 6:35pm and saw a Nicaraguan state-run channel covering the meeting, which was also attended by Minster of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) and National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), the newspaper said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said to his knowledge Tsai’s itinerary in Nicaragua remained blank before her arrival. Chiang demanded an explanation from government agencies over what he called an extremely disrespectful move.
“Since Nicaragua is Taiwan’s diplomatic ally, there should be no concerns about political sensitivity. That the Nicaraguan government refused to make public the itinerary and grant media access when our head of state is on a state visit to the country begs the question whether our bilateral ties have gone sour” Chiang said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said Taiwan’s complicated international status has made it vulnerable to improper treatment, but not by the nation’s diplomatic allies.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should raise its concerns about the incident and avoid any recurrence,” Chao said.
Lee said that while there had been difficulties setting an exact time for Tsai’s meeting with Ortega beforehand, as a total of six heads of state and many foreign delegations were attending Ortega’s inauguration ceremony yesterday, Managua had demonstrated its sincerity.
“Our delegation received a call [regarding the time of the meeting] at 6:10pm and the meeting took place at 6:30pm,” Lee said, acknowledging that the ministry had been unaware the meeting would be broadcast live.
In Taipei, Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Deputy Director-General Jose Han (韓志正) told a news conference yesterday that the ministry understands that the Nicaraguan government has been preoccupied with preparations for Ortega’s inauguration ceremony.
The ministry respects Nicaragua’s arrangements regarding the meeting of the heads of state, Han said.
According to local media reports, a similar incident occurred when former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited Nicaragua in July 2015, when Taiwan’s delegation had little say in when or where a meeting between Ma and Ortega would take place.
The Taiwanese delegation was originally told that Ortega’s meeting with Ma would not be open to the media, only to realize that it was being broadcast live after arriving at the venue.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
SHIFTING FIRE: While the tempo of purely military exercises around Taiwan has gone down somewhat, Beijing is working to isolate Lai diplomatically from support abroad Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is shifting tactics in his campaign to pressure Taiwan, ramping up diplomatic isolation of the nation while dialing down provocative displays of military aggression. Taiwan recorded a daily average of five Chinese military aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait’s buffer line with China through May this year — half the number logged in the same period last year. In March, Beijing did not send a single fighter jet near Taiwan for seven days, the longest absence on record outside of typhoon season. In comparison, China sent 153 planes near Taiwan during one day at its peak in
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
RSS