Marshall Islands President David Kabua described his state visit to Taiwan as “impressive” and “amazing,” the country’s foreign minister said yesterday.
The delegation was particularly impressed with Taiwan’s ability to maintain robust economic growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Marshall Islands Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Casten Nemra told a news conference in Taipei, citing Kabua.
“Taiwan’s economy continues to grow, impressively and amazingly, despite the COVID-19 pandemic,” Nemra said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
During the state visit — Kabua’s first overseas engagement since assuming office in January 2020 — officials had “productive conversations” concerning the public and private sectors, the minister said.
The exchanges have helped enhance bilateral ties, and the Marshall Islands is proud of the diplomatic relations it forged with Taiwan 24 years ago, he said.
“We want to deepen, expand, and find opportunities to [improve relations], not just government-to-government, but also people-to-people,” Nemra added.
The Marshall Islands remains committed to supporting Taiwan’s sovereignty and international participation, including in the WHO, he said.
When asked if the Marshall Islands had a message about China’s growing influence in the western Pacific region, Nemra said he could not comment on whether it was right or wrong, adding that China has its own strategy.
What the Marshall Islands is certain about is that it would continue to work closely with Taiwan and the US on economic and security issues, he said.
While the Marshall Islands is open to doing business with China and other nations, “I must be clear that when it comes to diplomatic ties, we know where we are,” Nemra said.
Kabua and his delegation, which arrived in Taiwan on Monday, met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), other government officials and representatives from the private sector during their stay.
The Marshall Islands is one of Taiwan’s 14 diplomatic allies. The countries have maintained official diplomatic ties since 1998.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
RSS