President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday met with lawmakers from three states in the Balkan Peninsula — Kosovo, North Macedonia and Romania — who are visiting Taiwan to participate in a forum on parliamentary openness.
The lawmakers are part of the first parliamentarian delegation from the Balkans to visit Taiwan since Kosovo gained independence from Serbia in 2008.
They arrived in Taiwan on Saturday night and leave on Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that they would be participating in the Parliamentary Openness and Monitoring Forum being held today and tomorrow.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office via CNA
At the meeting yesterday, Tsai described the delegation’s visit as significant because it showed the growing cooperation between democratic states, and marked the start of Taiwan’s exchanges with the Balkan region, the Office of the President said in a statement.
Tsai said she hoped the parliamentary forum would serve as a platform on which to build partnerships between Taiwan and Kosovo, Romania and North Macedonia in the areas of trade, information technology and green energy development.
The Kosovo-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group that was formed on Dec. 20, 2021, is part of the delegation.
One of the group’s members, former Kosovar prime minister Avdullah Hoti, said during the meeting with Tsai that there are difficulties that both countries have to overcome when attempting to find areas of cooperation.
However, they still need to find ways to work together, especially on economic issues, Hoti said.
He added that this was his second visit to Taiwan, and that he was happy to see that the nation had such a vibrant democracy.
In other news, Saint Lucian Minister of External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation Alva Baptiste, who is part of a delegation visiting Taiwan, yesterday said that the purpose of this trip is to strengthen his country’s commitment to bilateral relations with Taiwan.
“We do not auction foreign policy in Saint Lucia. We don’t go for the highest bidder. We have principles in what we do, so we are developing a genuine partnership with the people of Taiwan and the government as the instrument of their wishes,” Baptiste said at Saint Lucia’s embassy in Taipei.
Baptiste praised Taiwan for its efforts in assisting its allies during the COVID-19 pandemic and its involvement in his country’s infrastructure development projects.
“We are here to develop a true friendship, and to of course strengthen our bilateral ties and to cooperate with Taiwan,” Baptiste said. “This is why we opened the embassy in Taiwan, as a mark of respect and as an indication that we are not just engaged in ‘touch-and-go.’”
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,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS