Taiwan’s embassy in Port-au-Prince would continue to work with the new government as it seeks to restore order after months of gang-related violence, while maintaining Taiwan-Haiti ties, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, created in April to re-establish democratic order in the nation, signed a decree on Nov. 10 to fire then-interim Haitian prime minister Garry Conille after five months, replacing him with Alix Didier Fils-Aime, a businessman who was previously considered for the job, The Associated Press reported on Monday last week.
Council chairman Leslie Voltaire and Fils-Aime on Saturday inaugurated Haiti’s reshuffled government at Villa d’Accueil in Musseau.
Photo: AFP
The new Cabinet comprises 18 ministers, signaling a new chapter in the transition after the firing of Conille as the country grapples with mounting insecurity and political instability, the online newspaper Haitian Times reported on Monday.
In Taipei, Cheng Li-cheng (鄭力城), head of the ministry’s Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Department, confirmed that Fils-Aime was named the new prime minister on Monday last week and that his Cabinet was inaugurated on Saturday.
Ambassador to Haiti Hu Cheng-hao (胡正浩) was invited to the inauguration event, where he expressed the government’s willingness to deepen bilateral cooperation with the new administration, Cheng said.
The ambassador also expressed that Taiwan’s embassy would continue to cooperate with the new government to assist it in the country’s transition process and to maintain its friendship with Haiti, he said.
Regarding security issues in the Caribbean country, Cheng said local gang violence in the Solino neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, the capital, has forced many residents to flee the area in the past few days.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has since Tuesday last week banned US flights to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot at three planes, he added.
Taiwan’s embassy in Haiti is still open, and consular employees and their family members, as well as Taiwanese in Haiti are safe, Cheng said, adding that the embassy continues to keep close contact with Haiti’s police and armed forces, other countries embassies in the nation and the foreign ministry.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail