Delegations from Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and other friendly countries have arrived in the nation to attend the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) and vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) today.
From the presidential election on Jan. 13 until today, 687 foreign guests from 73 delegations have come to Taiwan to deliver congratulatory messages to the newly elected leaders, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Among them, 508 guests from 51 delegations, including eight led by heads of state, are attending today’s inauguration ceremony and other related events, it added.
Photo: CNA
Pope Francis appointed the Holy See’s Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Charles John Brown to visit Taiwan from yesterday to tomorrow as a special envoy, the ministry said.
The Pope asked the Archbishop to congratulate Lai and pray for prosperity of Taiwanese, it said.
Other European countries also sent delegations to Taiwan, including 39 guests from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, the European Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
Some of the heavyweight guests include former Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite, European Parliament Subcommittee on Security and Defence Vice Chair Rasa Jukneviciene, British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group Chair Lord Rogan, British Trade Envoy to Taiwan Lord Faulkner, Italian Senate Vice President Gian Marco Centinaio and German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chair Klaus-Peter Willsch, it said.
Guests from North America include a delegation led by former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo; a delegation comprising former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, former assistant to the US president and director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese, former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chair Richard Bush and AIT Chair Laura Rosenberger; as well as an 11-member delegation led by Canadian lawmaker Judy Sgro, the ministry said.
Pacific Century Institute chairman and former AIT chair Raymond Burghardt, former AIT director Brent Christensen and Washington Times board of directors chairman Tom McDevitt are also in Taiwan, it added.
Former Singaporean parliament speaker Abdullah Tarmugi, South Korean National Assembly member and South Korea-Taiwan Parliamentarian Friendship Association president Cho Kyoung-tae, and Australian senators Raff Ciccone and David Fawcett also arrived in Taiwan, the ministry said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS