Taiwan and Australia share common values and could safeguard regional stability together, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.
Wu made the remarks at a luncheon hosted by the Australian Office in Taipei to promote its “Rediscover Australia, Rediscover Taiwan” campaign and as a late celebration of its Jan. 26 National Day, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In opening his speech in English, Wu took a playful jab at the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) foreign policy.
“The AIT [American Institute in Taiwan] has been trying to invite the opposition leaders, and it was difficult. But now our KMT chairman is sitting right next to Brent. It’s wonderful,” he said, referring to AIT Director Brent Christensen and KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣).
The KMT’s relations with the AIT have become awkward due to its opposition to the government’s easing of a ban on imports of pork containing ractopamine residue.
Taiwan and Australia share common values, such as democracy, the rule of law, human rights and freedom of speech, Wu said, adding that bilateral relations have become closer on many levels, including agriculture, education, energy, biomedicine, digital health and smart city infrastructure.
Australia has also become an important partner of the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, which involves the US, Taiwan and Japan, he said.
During the Indo-Pacific Leaders’ Dialogue hosted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in August, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) stressed that regional situations are changing rapidly and countries should respond by cooperating more closely, Wu said, adding that like-minded partners should jointly safeguard peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
Wu expressed his admiration for Australian Representative to Taiwan Gary Cowan for exploring Taiwan through mountaineering, biking around the island, swimming across the Sun Moon Lake, supporting local charities and cleaning beaches.
“Sometimes Gary is more like a citizen of Taiwan than I am,” Wu said. “I have never cleaned any of our beaches in my life. I don’t even clean up my yard.”
Cowan, who assumed the post in January 2018, said that this might be the last time for him to host the office’s annual celebration.
Thanking Taiwan for donating medical supplies to help Australia cope with bushfires and COVID-19, he said that Taiwanese are “true friends in times of need.”
“Australia has been a strong and vocal supporter of Taiwan’s case to participate in the World Health Assembly as an observer,” he said.
Other technological cooperation includes neutron beam applications, space technology and astronomy, Ministry of Science and Technology official Chu Chih-peng (褚志鵬) said.
As Taiwan has launched new research vessels, ocean research is a potential area for collaboration, he added.
Other guests at the event included Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) and former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫).
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
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
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS