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.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS