Saint Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet has arrived in Taiwan on a state visit and to join celebrations for Double Ten National Day on Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Separately, Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez and his wife, Silvana Lopez Moreira de Abdo, arrived in Taipei yesterday after the government invited them to attend Double Ten National Day celebrations, the ministry said.
Chastanet was invited by the government for his third visit to the nation since becoming prime minister in June 2016, the ministry said in a statement.
Photo: CNA
During his four-day stay, Chastanet is to attend a welcoming ceremony with military honors and a national banquet to be hosted by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and hold talks with Tsai and other officials, the ministry said.
Saint Lucia is one of 17 nations that formally recognize Taiwan.
The ministry lauded the close cooperation between Taiwan and Saint Lucia in the areas of infrastructure development, agriculture, education and culture, information technology, and public health and medical care.
The two countries will continue to promote projects benefiting their people and those aimed at deepening their friendly relations, it said.
In other developments, Ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) on Saturday said that relations with Palau remain friendly and stable, and bilateral cooperation programs were going smoothly after the Apple Daily in Hong Kong reported that Palau House of Delegates Speaker Sabino Anastacio predicted ties with Taiwan could be changed, probably within two years.
Palau has demonstrated its strong support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1999, which the ministry much appreciates, Lee said.
The ministry is pushing ahead with cooperation programs in Palau to further promote the friendship, and the relationship remains “close and friendly,” he said.
Lee said that the ministry respected the opinions expressed by Anastacio and others on the development of relations between Taiwan and Palau, and has instructed Taiwan’s embassy in the Pacific nation to increase communications to make sure Palau knows that Taiwan is a good friend.
Beijing in November last year imposed travel restrictions prohibiting Chinese travel agencies from organizing tours to Palau, dealing a harsh blow to Palau’s economy.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
RSS