Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and former Slovenian Prime Minister Ivan Jansa are among those set to speak at the annual Yushan Foreign in Taipei from Monday to Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
Other big names appearing at the Taiwan government- funded forum include Czech Republic Senator Pavel Fischer, former Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga, and former Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Mantas Adomenas, MOFA said in a news release.
Former Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement, and veteran Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya, who chairs the 270-member Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council, will also join the event, it added.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
President William Lai (賴清德) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) will both speak at the forum today, MOFA said.
The eighth edition of the Yushan Forum this year will expand the concept of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy to include more global partners, it said.
The New Southbound Policy was launched by former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2016 to promote trade and investment, and people-to-people ties with 18 countries in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.
The countries originally targeted by the New Southbound Policy were Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Australia, and New Zealand.
This year the Yushan Forum is to be held under the theme of “New Southbound Policy+: Taiwan, the Indo- Pacific, and a New World.”
MOFA said that this year’s forum aims to include more like-minded partners in discussions on how Taiwan is taking advantage of smart, digital and innovative, solutions to promote the so-called “Digital New Southbound Policy.”
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
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