Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes yesterday visited Kaohsiung Harbor for a first-hand look at an ongoing project to revitalize the area and learn more about the history of the southern port city.
Accompanied by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Cartes first stopped at the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center, which is next to the harbor.
While the two presidents viewed the harbor, Tsai introduced her Paraguayan counterpart to the development of the port.
Photo: Ko You-hau, Taipei Times
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) gave a speech to welcome the guests, lauding the long-standing ties between Taiwan and Paraguay.
Built during the Japanese colonial era, Kaohsiung Harbor played a focal role in the development of the nation’s heavy industry in the 1970s and 1980s, Chen said.
The harbor is undergoing an industrial transformation and is seeking to integrate with the technology and tourism industries, she said.
Giving a briefing on the city’s latest revitalization project, the “New Bay Area,” Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Shih Che (史哲) said the project covers 600 hectares and is aimed at further developing the exhibition and yacht industries.
After the briefings, Cartes and Tsai boarded a yacht to tour the harbor, accompanied by Chen.
Cartes was on his third visit to Taiwan since assuming the presidency in 2013.
He arrived on Tuesday for a three-day state visit to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations.
He attended several events, including a painting exhibition, to mark the occasion, and to promote bilateral trade and economic exchanges, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
During talks between the two presidents on Wednesday, Tsai announced new rules allowing visa-free entry for Paraguayan citizens to Taiwan, while Cartes said his country would continue to help Taiwan take part in international organizations and activities.
The two leaders also witnessed the signing of an economic cooperation agreement and the exemption of double verification of official papers.
Taiwan and Paraguay established official ties on July 12, 1957. Paraguay is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in South America.
Cartes’ visit comes after Panama cut formal ties with Taiwan and established diplomatic relations with China on June 13, leaving Taipei with 20 diplomatic allies.
Panama was the second country to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing since Tsai took office in May last year. Sao Tome and Principe was the first.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping