President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday praised the Kingdom of Eswatini as an important partner in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the African country was the third-largest exporter of disinfectant alcohol to Taiwan.
Tsai made the remarks at the Presidential Office while accepting the credentials of the African kingdom’s new envoy, Ambassador Promise Sithembiso Msibi, marking the official beginning of his ambassadorship.
In addition to supplying critical goods during the pandemic, Tsai said Taiwan had also helped its only African diplomatic ally build capacity for mask production.
Photo: CNA
“These collaborations show the strong friendship between Taiwan and Eswatini,” she said.
The last time Tsai visited the African kingdom was in April 2018, when the countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, with King Mswati III visiting Taiwan in June that year, she said.
While in Eswatini, Tsai said she had witnessed bilateral cooperation projects that were “concrete reflections of the longstanding friendship between the two allies.”
Tsai also took the opportunity to thank Msibi and Eswatini for staunchly supporting Taiwan at this year’s World Health Assembly, during which an Eswatini official had backed Taiwan’s participation in the WHO’s decision-making forum.
Tsai welcomed Msibi’s arrival, saying that he is an outstanding diplomat and a long-time supporter of Taiwan.
Msibi, 57, is a senior Eswatini diplomat who had twice visited Taiwan, once as a parliamentary secretary in 2004, and later while accompanying King Mswati III’s mother at Double Ten National Day celebrations in 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Msibi is highly trusted by the king, making him a perfect choice as Eswatini’s ambassador to Taiwan, the ministry said.
Msibi and his wife arrived in Taiwan on April 27, and the envoy presented a copy of his letter of credentials to Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on May 24.
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
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,
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
RSS