The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said it does not rule out further action in response to comments by Brazil’s top envoy to Taiwan that his government considers Taiwan to be part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Commercial Office of Brazil to Taipei Director Luis Claudio Villafane Gomes Santos described Taiwan as part of the PRC in a Chinese-language interview published on Sunday last week by online news outlet Up Media.
The Commercial Office of Brazil to Taipei functions as Brazil’s de facto embassy in the absence of official diplomatic ties.
Photo: CNA
While no options are being excluded, any response must be carefully assessed to ensure effectiveness, Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Director-General Jose Han (韓志正) told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting today.
All feasible measures would be reviewed, he added.
The ministry on Monday communicated its solemn concern and protest to Santos in a telephone call, he said.
During the call, the ministry expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with his "untrue and inappropriate" remarks, Han said.
The ministry urged Santos to be aware that under international law, diplomatic representatives have an obligation not to interfere in the internal affairs of their host country, he said.
Santos is on leave and did not make further comments during the phone call, Han said.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) in an interview yesterday said that the government would lodge necessary protests.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) is an independent and sovereign nation, and neither it nor the PRC is subordinate to the other, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said today.
These are objective facts widely recognized by the international community, she added.
Asked if there would be any specific countermeasures, she said that the government would consult agencies and evaluate possible responses in light of overall Taiwan-Brazil diplomatic and economic relations.
Meanwhile, the ministry in a statement today said that China has no right to comment on President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming visit to Eswatini.
Beijing should stop acting as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a “disruptor” of cross-strait relations, it said.
Taiwan has the right to independently choose how it engages with the international community and develop relations with other countries, the ministry said, adding that it would not accept interference or suppression from any country, nor would it impose limitations on itself because of intimidation.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
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