The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs for reiterating Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s statements on the importance of peace and stability in Taiwan Strait.
The department on Friday released a statement saying that Marcos expressed Manila’s longstanding position on the importance of peace and stability in Taiwan and the peaceful settlement of differences.
In an interview in New Delhi on Wednesday last week with the Indian news site Firstpost, Marcos said the Philippines is concerned about the safety and welfare of more than 150,000 Filipinos living and working in Taiwan, the department said.
Photo: Bloomberg
“Citing geographic proximity, the president stressed that any conflict in Taiwan could have an impact on the Philippines,” it said.
The foreign affairs department’s statement again explicitly expressed its support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, as well as Taiwan’s importance to the Philippines, the ministry said.
“It highlights that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is a shared concern among countries in the region,” it said.
The ministry said it highly appreciates the statement and emphasizes that Taiwan, under the “integrated diplomacy” strategy, would continue to deepen its substantial cooperative relationship with the Philippines, and together work toward regional peace and prosperity.
Separately, the ministry yesterday welcomed to Taiwan a delegation of Latvia-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group members, led by the group’s chairwoman Ingrida Circene.
The eight-member delegation, which is to stay until Thursday, is the first Latvian parliamentary group to visit Taiwan in the past few years, the ministry said.
Taiwan and Latvia share the values of freedom and democracy, so hopefully their visit would bring mutual benefits in cooperation across different fields, as well as bolster parliamentary friendship on both sides, it said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS