Large democratic countries in the world should adopt strategies to counter China’s bullying, particularly small developing countries such as Palau, Palauan Ambassador to Taiwan Dilmei Louisa Olkeriil said last week.
Olkeriil’s comments came as Palau Pacific Airways earlier this month decided to suspend operations, ending services to Hong Kong and to Macau through the island of Bali — its only destinations — after a drop in Chinese visitors.
The drop in visitor arrivals resulted from Beijing’s ban on group tours to Palau, imposed in November last year because of the Pacific island nation maintains diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
The majority of Palauans support the country’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Olkeriil told the Central News Agency on Friday last week.
“We are a democratic country, and we support and promote our relationship with countries with the same system of government, such as Taiwan,” Olkeriil said.
“Everyone knows that China pressures other countries and international organizations not to support Taiwan; organizations like the UN, WHO and World Health Assembly,” Olkeriil added.
Taiwanese hospitals have saved the lives of thousands of Palauans, making it difficult for Palau to break ties with Taiwan, Olkeriil said.
Taiwan and Palau established formal ties in 1999 and have since then collaborated in areas spanning agriculture, green energy, medical and healthcare, talent cultivation and tourism.
Visitor arrivals from China totaled 70,741 in 2016, 55,491 last year and 25,659 in the first six months of this year, Palauan Bureau of Immigration statistics showed.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS