Somaliland Representative to Taiwan Mohamed Omar Hagi Mohamoud called Taiwan a true friend as the Legislative Yuan established the Taiwan-Somaliland Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) was made chairwoman of the association at a ceremony at the legislature in Taipei.
Establishing the association is a great starting point for an important partnership through long-term cooperation and exchanges between the two governments, the people and the legislatures, Lin said in a pre-recorded video, as she was unable to attend the ceremony after testing positive for COVID-19.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan and Somaliland are committed to a free market economy and fighting authoritarianism, Mohamoud told lawmakers, calling Taipei “a partner of Somaliland, a force for good and a true friend.”
Somaliland supports Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly as an observer and other multilateral organizations, he said.
As the “closest” country to Taiwan in Africa, Somaliland can connect the nation with a combined population of 500 million people in 19 east African countries, he said.
Somaliland has rich natural resources such as oil and gas, so it looks forward to signing more mutually beneficial agreements with Taiwan to share the resources, he said.
“Taiwan upholds the principles of steadfast diplomacy and mutual assistance for mutual benefits to participate in the international community in the hope to become a good force for maintaining regional peace and stability,” Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui said.
The association can promote exchanges between lawmakers from both nations, and deepen cooperation in healthcare, fisheries, agriculture, and information and communication, Yui said.
Taiwan and Somaliland cherish the values of democracy and the rule of law, important beliefs that Taiwan is to adhere to while exploring opportunities for cooperation, he said.
Separately, the legislature passed the third reading of an amendment to establish its own international affairs department.
Passage of a proposed amendment to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) would provides a basis for the department’s establishment, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun wrote on Facebook.
The department would be in charge of legislature-related foreign affairs, fostering talent and “creating a database of legislative diplomacy showing the outcomes of international exchanges,” You said.
“The department would serve as the supporting force for all lawmakers and provide greater assistance to legislative diplomacy,” he said.
It could be established as soon as the next legislative session, which is to begin in September, Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) said when the bill passed its preliminary review on Monday.
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
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
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
RSS