Taiwan’s ambassador to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has met with the newly elected prime minister of the Caribbean ally state, Godwin Friday, to convey congratulations from President William Lai (賴清德), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
In a statement, the ministry said Ambassador Fiona Fan (范惠君) delivered Lai’s message during their meeting, and that the prime minister asked her to relay his thanks in return.
The ministry released the statement in response to a media query about the outlook for Taiwan-SVG relations.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
Friday’s New Democratic Party (NDP) has previously proposed switching recognition from Taiwan to Beijing, although the new prime minister did not publicly address the issue during the campaign.
He was sworn in after the NDP won 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats in the general election on Friday last week, ending former SVG prime minister Ralph Gonsalves’ 24-year rule.
At his swearing-in ceremony, Friday called the result a clear mandate for “major, transformational changes” and pledged to work with “every sinew in our body” to deliver on campaign promises, according to Dominica News Online.
Taiwan established diplomatic relations with SVG in 1981.
Separately, the Executive Yuan has approved diplomatic personnel changes, appointing Hsu Wei-ming (徐蔚民), a former deputy representative to Thailand, as the country’s new ambassador to the Marshall Islands.
Hsu, a counselor at the Department of International Organizations, is replacing Steve Hsia (夏季昌), who has served as ambassador since September 2022 and is rotating back to Taipei to work at the ministry, according to the Executive Yuan. Hsu’s former overseas posts include Latvia.
The Marshall Islands is one of 12 countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei instead of Beijing.
Former representative to Malaysia Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) has been appointed as the new representative to Sweden.
Lien Yu-ping (連玉蘋), head of the Department of International Cooperation and Economic Affairs, is to take over as representative to Malaysia, according to the Cabinet.
The move follows former Swedish representative Gu Ruey-sheng’s (谷瑞生) transfer to Germany.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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