The leaders of Saint Lucia and Tuvalu, two of the 13 countries that formally recognize the Republic of China (ROC), voiced their support Friday for Taiwan’s inclusion in the United Nations and its participation in international organizations.
In an address during the General Debate of this year’s General Assembly, Saint Lucia Prime Minister Philip Joseph Pierre said the people of the ROC on Taiwan should be allowed to continue their right to self-determination and exercise “their democratic freedoms without threats to the autonomy and with a place in the international forum.”
Prime Minister Kausea Natano of Tuvalu, meanwhile, called for the UN to ensure the participation of everyone worldwide, including the people of Taiwan.
Photo: Reuters
“We must make the necessary arrangement for Taiwan to meaningfully participate in relevant UN specialized agencies and mechanisms,” Natano said.
Such an arrangement was necessary, he said, because “Taiwan is widely known for being an able, trustworthy and willing partner greatly contributing to collective efforts that address pressing global issues under the purview of these UN agencies.”
Ariel Henry, prime minister of Haiti, another of Taiwan’s formal diplomatic allies, focused on the continuing unrest in his country in his address to the world governing body Friday and did not touch on Taiwan again this year.
Photo: Reuters
He appealed for international support to combat rampant gang violence -- one element of the multi-dimensional crisis currently affecting the Caribbean nation.
Since the General Debate began on Sept. 19, eight of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies -- Guatemala, Paraguay, Palau, Eswatini, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Saint Lucia, and Tuvalu -- have voiced their support for Taiwan.
According to the event’s agenda, representatives of three other formal allies -- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Belize -- were to deliver their statements on Saturday.
STRONG RELATIONSHIPS: China would not blockade Taiwan, because President Xi respects him, and Russia would not have invaded if he were president, he said Former US president and the Republican candidate in next month’s presidential election Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on China if China were to “go into Taiwan,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. “I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you, at 150 percent to 200 percent,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the WSJ published on Friday. Asked if he would use military force against a blockade on Taiwan by China, Trump said it would not come to that because Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) respected
The Taipei Department of Transportation discouraged YouBike 2.0E users from taking them on long-distance trips after a Taipei city councilor said that riders often use the new electric bike, YouBike 2.0E, to climb Yangmingshan (陽明山). Taipei earlier this year began offering the first 30 minutes of YouBike 2.0 rentals for free, with Taipei and New Taipei offering the YouBike 2.0E on Aug. 30 to encourage rider usage. For YouBike 2.0, the rate is NT$10 per 30 minutes within the first four hours, NT$20 per 30 minutes for five to eight hours and NT$40 per 30 minutes after eight hours. Meanwhile, for e-bikes,
RESOURCE RICH: Taiwan is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and has up to 30 gigawatts of the potential energy, of which 10 gigawatts could be economically viable Academia Sinica and CPC Corp yesterday began drilling the nation’s first deep geothermal well in Yilan County’s Yuanshan Township (員山). The 4km-deep well is expected to take 18 months to complete and has an estimated investment of NT$337 million (US$10.54 million), Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said. “While Taiwan has up to 30 gigawatts of potential deep geothermal energy, with an estimated 10 gigawatts being economically viable, only by digging wells can we determine the actual amount of commercially viable geothermal energy,” Liao said at the project’s opening ceremony. Data collected during and after the excavation process would be used for future
HACKERS’ MARKET: Chat logs about Taiwan and documents outlining ways to take over online accounts were leaked from a company that sells data from hacks Taiwanese cybersecurity specialists found 577 leaked documents which show that the Chinese Communist Party is engaging in “cognitive warfare” against Taiwan through cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, a documentary released last month by Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed. The filmmakers behind Tracking China’s Leaked Documents said they spent six months visiting seven countries, including Taiwan, where they interviewed members of TeamT5, a malware research and cybersecurity firm, which found the leaked documents. TeamT5 said they discovered a string of mysterious URLs on the social media platform X, which they suspected could be accounts created by hackers or people who leaked data, which led