Japan was the first to congratulate president-elect William Lai (賴清德) last night, after the Democratic Progressive Party candidate won the party a third consecutive term in office.
In a statement, the Japanese minister of foreign affairs extended its congratulations to the candidate.
The EU in a separate statement did not mention Lai by name, saying only it “welcomed” the presidential election and congratulates “all the voters who participated in this democratic exercise.”
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
“The EU remains concerned about growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and opposes any unilateral attempt to change the status quo,” the statement by a spokesperson for EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell said. “The European Union underlines that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are key to regional and global security and prosperity.”
Meanwhile in China, the Chinese Communist Party was reigning in online discussion about the election.
A hashtag about the vote was trending on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo yesterday morning as polls opened.
However, by midday, searches for “Taiwan election” yielded a notice reading: “According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the content of this topic is not displayed.”
Some content about the election was still available on the site early in the afternoon, although many posts appeared to come from verified, state-affiliated accounts.
After weeks of strong rhetoric over the Taiwan vote from Beijing — but little coverage in Chinese state media for the domestic audience — the 7pm official China Central Television news program Xinwen Lianbo made no mention of the vote.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hours before the vote asked Beijing to maintain cross-strait stability during a meeting with Liu Jianchao (劉建超), head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international department.
“The two sides had a constructive discussion on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues, including areas of potential cooperation and areas of difference,” US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. “The secretary reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea.”
Beijing did not mention Taiwan in its statement following the talks, instead saying the two sides agreed to “continue to strengthen dialogue and cooperation.”
The USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson strike groups were reportedly stationed in the Western Pacific east of Taiwan in a move experts called a clear warning to Beijing, as well as a bid to mediate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
RSS