Pacific Island trainees in a leadership program gathered in Taipei on Monday to begin a six-week segment in Taiwan.
“Your upcoming courses and visits in Taiwan have been designed to give you insight and experience that will be useful in the course of your careers,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) said at the opening ceremony of the Pacific Islands Leadership Program (PILP).
Thirteen participants from eight Pacific Island nations — Fiji, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and Vanuatu — are to exchange views with local officials, academics, businesspeople and representatives of non-governmental organizations, Hsu said.
Participants are to learn about Taiwan’s Austronesian heritage, which Hsu said is a bridge connecting Taiwan with the Pacific Island community.
The annual program, established in 2013 by a grant from the Taiwanese government in cooperation with the East-West Center, a US-based institution for public diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific region, seeks to improve the skills of leaders in the Pacific.
Over the past six years, the project has trained 144 future leaders from across the Pacific, Hsu said.
“In the face of climate change, natural disasters, social unrest, economic disputes, energy shortages, security threats and other common challenges, the PILP stands as a prime example of what Taiwan, the US and Pacific Island nations can achieve when we all work together,” Hsu said.
Palauan Ambassador to Taiwan Dilmei Louisa Olkeriil encouraged the participants to learn as much as they could while in Taiwan, especially regarding the medical and healthcare systems, which she said “we should all learn from.”
East-West Center senior manager Christina Monroe thanked for Taiwan sharing its experience with the Pacific Island nations, while American Institute in Taiwan Political Section Chief Bradley Parker lauded Taiwan for responsibly contributing to the region, despite China’s continued suppression.
This year’s program began on Sept. 30 with a month of experiential learning exercises at the East-West Center in Hawaii, before moving to Taiwan for field study and a leadership retreat, the East-West Center said.
The curriculum includes topics such as applied leadership skills, scenario planning, social entrepreneurship and risk analysis, the center said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as