Taiwan delivered 10 tonnes of emergency supplies by military aircraft to the Philippines over the Christmas weekend to help the Southeast Asian country recover from the devastation caused by Typhoon Rai.
Two C-130 aircraft departed from southern Pingtung Air Base to Mactan-Cebu International Airport late on Saturday and early Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The aircraft carried food rations, cookies, instant noodles, bottled water, canned food and portable water filters, all donated by the Taiwanese government, it said.
Photo courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Representative to the Philippines Michael Hsu (徐佩勇) was at the airport to receive the supplies and is to transfer them to the Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, it said.
The ministry said that it “would like to express our sympathy and condolences to those affected, and hope that the country makes a rapid recovery.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) wrote on Twitter that the typhoon had caused destruction and heavy casualties in the Philippines.
“It ruined #Christmas for many & hit us hard too as we truly care about our #Filipino brothers & sisters. Fortunately, #Taiwan’s #ROCAF [Republic of China Air Force] C-130s flew in supplies quickly. Hang in there, more are coming,” he wrote.
The Philippine Air Force announced the arrival of one of the aircraft on social media on Saturday evening.
The air force wrote on Facebook that it welcomed the C-130 aircraft and the supplies it brought to victims of Typhoon Odette, the name used in the Philippines to refer to Rai.
The donations from Taiwan are expected to benefit typhoon victims in the provinces of Cebu, Bohol and Negros Oriental, it said.
In photos released by the Philippine Air Force, Taiwanese pilots are seen holding Taiwanese flags and posing with Philippine officials, who helped to unload the supplies.
The delivery was made days after Taiwan’s donation of US$500,000 to the Philippines on Wednesday last week to help the Southeast Asian country recover from Rai.
The storm caused 378 deaths and 742 injuries, with 60 people still missing and 4 million affected, the Philippine government said.
The C-130 aircraft were used for similar disaster relief missions to the Philippines in 2013 after it was hit by Typhoon Haiyan.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS