Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Friday told the mayor of Ukraine’s capital that their democracies stand on “the front line of resisting” large authoritarian neighbors as Wu announced a donation of US$8 million to Kyiv and Ukrainian medical institutions.
Taiwan has condemned Russia’s invasion, joined Western-led sanctions and donated US$20 million for Ukrainian refugees, mostly raised from the public.
Speaking by videoconference to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, Wu said that Taiwan and Ukraine were both democracies “on the front line of resisting the expansion of authoritarianism,” the ministry cited him as saying.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“The Taiwanese government and people also face a high threat from the authoritarian regime across the Taiwan Strait, and therefore feel the current situation faced by Ukraine as though it is happening to ourselves,” Wu said.
Taiwan has not previously announced talks between senior Taiwanese and Ukrainian officials.
Wu said that Taiwan would donate US$3 million to the Ukrainian capital and US$5 million to six Ukrainian medical institutions.
He also posted a picture on Twitter of himself talking to Klitschko, a former champion boxer, saying that the mayor’s “fighting spirit” was admirable.
“Champ, we’ll continue to stand with you & your people. Freedom will prevail!” Wu wrote.
Klitschko expressed his appreciation for the donation announced by Wu, and called the ongoing war a fight to safeguard democratic values and freedom, the ministry said.
A government campaign from March 2 to April 1 raised US$33 million in humanitarian aid as well as a large volume of supplies to help Ukraine.
Friday’s donation came from those funds.
Taiwan first sent 27 tonnes of medical supplies at the end of February for distribution by Poland to Ukrainian refugees in that country and Ukrainian citizens who remained in their home country.
Another 650 tonnes of supplies were donated last month by people in Taiwan.
Since late February, more than 5.13 million Ukrainians have fled their country because of the Russian invasion, UN High Commissioner for Refugees data show.
Additional reporting by CNA
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS