President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday told the Palauan National Congress that Taiwan and the Pacific Island nation were “democratic bastions” and should cooperate further to bring prosperity to both countries.
“Taiwan and Palau are both important democratic bastions in the fight against the expansion of authoritarianism,” Lai said, adding that the two nations had championed the values of democracy and freedom.
In addition, Taiwan and Palau, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of formal diplomatic ties this year, have had fruitful exchanges in the areas of climate change response, education, business and tourism, Lai said.
Photo: CNA
The president thanked the Palauan legislature for its longstanding support for Taiwan’s international participation, which had paved the way for his country to contribute to global issues such as public health, climate change, aviation safety and transnational crimes.
He also revealed a new aid project for the Pacific ally, saying that Taiwan would support the Palauan legislature in improving its audiovisual and cybersecurity equipment and installing an electronic voting system.
Lai hoped the project would serve as a “model” for the South Pacific in its pursuit of digital transformation and bring prosperity to the people of both Taiwan and Palau.
Photo: CNA
The address followed a bilateral talk between Lai and Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr at the latter’s office.
Lai arrived in Palau yesterday afternoon for the last stop of his weeklong South Pacific tour, which also included stops in the US state of Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Guam.
Lai, who embarked on his first overseas trip as president on Nov. 30, was to return home this evening.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
A 23-year-old Taichung man vowed to drink more water after his heavy consumption of sugary tea landed him in hospital with a kidney infection and sepsis. The man, surnamed Lin (林), used to drink two cups of half-sugar oolong tea while working at a food stall, where he often had to wait a long time before urinating. Lin developed kidney stones and noticed blood in his urine, but ignored the issue after taking medication for three days. A month later, he went to the emergency room after experiencing a recurring fever and was diagnosed with a kidney infection that led to sepsis, landing
RSS