President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said her government would continue to bolster Taiwan’s defenses, because “when Taiwan gets stronger ... the world becomes a safer place.”
Tsai made the remarks in a prerecorded address screened yesterday at an event hosted by the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations (WFTA) and European Federation of Taiwanese Associations (EFTA) in Vilnius.
Taiwan and Lithuania have representative offices in each other’s capitals, and both countries have in recent years collaborated on a number of programs in many sectors, she said.
Photo: image taken a video on the Presidential Office Web site
“It is not just in Lithuania, as Taiwan has become a keyword all over the world,” as world leaders have this year stressed the importance of safeguarding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, including at a US-Japan summit, a Japan-UK summit, the G7 summit and the Trilateral Leaders’ Summit between the US, Japan and South Korea at Camp David last month, Tsai said.
“When Taiwan gets stronger, becoming more secure, then the world becomes a safer place,” she said.
The world is facing expansionism by authoritarian regimes, and Taiwan would push for reforms in national defense, she added.
“We have incorporated a civilian defense system into Taiwan’s armed forces ... to bolster Taiwan’s resilience to safeguard our nation,” she said.
The WFTA is heading into its 49th year, while the EFTA has been in existence for more than 50 years, Tsai said, congratulating the two overseas Taiwanese organizations on jointly hosting the annual conference in Lithuania’s capital.
The conference included discussions with Taiwan’s Kuma Academy, a civic organization that aims to educate and train civil defense volunteers.
Tsai also took the opportunity to invite overseas Taiwanese to visit Taiwan and see for themselves how the nation is developing and its new infrastructure projects.
“Taiwan is always making progress,” she said, touting the nation’s semiconductor, precision machinery and information technology sectors.
Tsai concluded by thanking overseas Taiwanese communities for undertaking foreign affairs initiatives to deepen the links with the public and private sectors in many countries.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS