The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to reassign personnel from the six embassies and overseas offices that were closed this year to the nations targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy, including Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The ministry said that staff would also be transferred to the embassies in Guatemala, the Solomon Islands, El Salvador, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Holy See, Kiribati, Belize and Taiwan’s other diplomatic allies.
Papua New Guinea will also be a focus for redirecting diplomatic personnel, as it would be hosting the next APEC summit, it added.
According to an evaluation report by the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center, personnel would be reallocated according to the needs and overall strategy of the nation’s diplomacy.
The report also said that an original budget of NT$192.73 million (US$6.4 million) would also be reallocated once the offices close.
Taiwan closed six embassies and overseas offices this year due to the termination of diplomatic ties with Sao Tome and Principe and Panama, and plans to merge some offices.
The ministry last year proposed to close overseas offices in Libya, Guam, Jeddah and Norway, citing a cost-effectiveness evaluation of the nation’s diplomatic resources.
The representative office in Libya was closed in January, the administrative office in Jeddah ended operations in July, the administrative office in Guam last month merged with the embassy in Palau, and the representative office in Norway ended operations at the end of September.
Taiwan has not made significant moves to close overseas offices since former minister of foreign affairs Francisco Ou’s (歐鴻鍊) term in 2009, during which offices in Johannesburg, Venezuela, Bolivia and Bangladesh were closed.
Since then, only the embassy in the Gambia has been closed since it severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2013, and the Kansas office has been moved to Denver, Colorado.
The other changes in offices abroad have all been new additions due to increasing number of Taiwanese businesspeople overseas. This includes the addition of offices in Chennai, India, in 2011, in Surabaya, Indonesia, in 2015 and in Myanmar last year.
Taiwan has 114 offices abroad: 20 embassies, two consulates, 55 representative offices, 36 administrative offices and one foreign mission. There are no plans for further adjustments next year, sources said.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS