Eswatini’s new Prime Minister Russell Dlamini reaffirmed the kingdom’s 50- plus-year diplomatic ties with Taiwan in a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Taipei yesterday. Dlamini said he wanted to make it clear that diplomatic relations with Taiwan remained a top priority for the government of Eswatini and the country’s ruler, King Mswati III. He also wished to use his first visit as prime minister to thank Taiwan for assisting the Kingdom of Eswatini. Eswatini is "grateful" and committed to a "strategic partnership" with Taiwan, as well as the country’s vision and technical support, Dlamini said. Dlamini, who was appointed to office on Nov. 3, 2023, said he would also use his first trip to Taiwan as prime minister to meet with Taiwanese engineers helping build an oil storage tank in Eswatini. During the meeting at the Presidential Office, Tsai welcomed Dlamini, who serves as an adviser to King Mswati III. "I am confident that this trip will enable you to experience Taiwan’s rich culture and further deepen our bilateral friendship," Tsai said. Tsai told Dlamini’s delegation that she witnessed the signing of three MOUs during her last trip to Eswatini in September 2023. Among these was an agreement to help the Eswantini build an oil storage tank capable of holding 30 days of reserves, according to Taiwan’s government. Tsai also thanked the Dlamini for supporting Taiwan’s participation during the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in December 2023. During his COP28 address, Dlamini said all countries should be part of the agreements and commitments on climate action. "If countries like Taiwan have voluntarily committed for the sake of the planet and people without being a party to the negotiations, then the rest of us can," Dlamini said, adding that Eswatini calls for Taiwan’s formal inclusion in future COP meetings. Dlamini arrived in Taiwan on Monday, together with Eswatini’s Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Prince Lonkhokhela and Prime Minister’s Office Principal Secretary Bertram Stewart, among others. Eswatini is one of 12 states worldwide and the last in Africa to maintain diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name.
Photo: CNA
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching