Slovakian Second State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy Karol Galek addresses the opening of the Taiwanese-Slovak Commission on Economic Cooperation meeting in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times

Taiwan and Slovakia are headed for closer trade relations, Slovak Second State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy Karol Galek said yesterday at the Taiwanese-Slovak Commission on Economic Cooperation meeting in Taipei.

Taiwan and Slovakia’s cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic proves the countries’ ability to work together as equal partners “in good times and the bad,” and Slovakia is ready to work with Taiwan as “small but open economies” to “find our place in an ever-changing global economy,” Galek said.

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe speaks via video link to a forum organized by the Institute for National Policy Research in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times

Japan and the US could not stand by if China attacked Taiwan, and Beijing needs to understand this, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday.

Speaking virtually to a forum organized by Taiwanese think tank the Institute for National Policy Research, Abe said that the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — the Sakishima Islands and Yonaguni Island are only about 100km from Taiwan.

Representative to France Francois Wu, right, and the staff of the Taipei Representative Office in Paris on Monday toast to celebrate the French National Assembly’s adoption of a resolution in support of Taiwan’s international participation.
Photo courtesy of Francois Wu

The government yesterday thanked the French National Assembly for adopting a resolution on Monday in support of Taiwan’s international participation, following a similar resolution passed by the French Senate in May.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised the resolution’s passage as “historic” and as demonstrating the concrete support of both chambers of the French parliament for Taiwan’s participation in international affairs.