Saint Lucian Deputy Prime Minister Ernest Hilaire has arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit to enhance bilateral exchanges, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
Hilaire, who also serves as minister for tourism, investment, creative industries, culture and information, arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to a welcome from Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺), MOFA said in a news release.
Hilaire is accompanied on the Taiwan trip by Minister for Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs Emma Hippolyte and Minister for Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment Joachim Andre Henry.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Aside from meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) and attending a banquet to be hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), the Caribbean ally delegation is to also make a trip to the Ministry of Culture and visit local cultural tourism sites, MOFA said.
The Saint Lucian delegates are also set to travel to Kaohsiung for a tour of its world-renowned yacht industry, it added.
Hilaire last visited Taiwan in 2023.
Saint Lucia is one of 12 states worldwide that recognize the Republic of China instead of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Both countries first established diplomatic relations in 1984, but ties were broken in 1997 when the Caribbean country switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
In April 2007, Taiwan and Saint Lucia re-established diplomatic relations, and the PRC consequently severed its ties with the latter.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS