Politics

South Pacific embassies get Taiwan-made vehicles

• Publication Date：03/17/2010
• Source： Liberty Times

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has purchased two Luxgen 7 multipurpose vehicles from local company Yulon Motor Co. Ltd. for embassies in the Solomon Islands and the Republic of Kiribati.

“To manifest Taiwan’s manufacturing power to its allies, local-branded vehicles will be priority choices for overseas embassies in the future,” Foreign Minister Timothy Chin-tien Yang said March 16.

The two Luxgen 7 MPV minivans will replace old embassy vehicles. They were purchased at NT$800,000 (US$25,000) per car and will be shipped to their destinations by ocean freight.

Yulon will provide spare parts sufficient for two years’ use and set up a maintenance center in the nearby Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The two vehicles will soon go into action during President Ma Ying-jeou’s tour of allied South Pacific nations March 21 to 27.

“As I advised, President Ma had decided to strengthen the ties between Taiwan and our allied nations through personal visits to each country, rather than merely attending overseas summits,” Yang said.

Ma will visit the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Republic of Nauru, the Solomon Islands and the Republic of Palau, staying overnight in all but Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.

One themed activity will be held for each of the six nations on the list. A mobile medical corps will provide charity surgery for cataract patients in the Marshall Islands; a regional aqua farming center will be established in Kiribati; vocational training will be held for regional fishery industry observers and fishing crew in Tuvalu; a plan will be implemented in Nauru to help the country develop at least six agricultural or husbandry products in the next three years; a solar power supply system will be established for the office of the governor-general of the Solomon Islands; and a special exhibition on the indigenous cultures of Taiwan will be held in Palau.

Ma will take a made-in-Taiwan present to the leader of each of the six nations, a cell phone produced by HTC Corp. The photo-taking, music-listening and satellite navigation functions of the phone are much appreciated by allied leaders.

The U.S. government has agreed for the presidential plane to land in one of the civil airports in the Territory of Guam for refueling. The plane is scheduled to spend 90 minutes in Guam on the return trip March 27. Raymond F. Burghardt, chairman of the board of trustees of the American Institute in Taiwan, will be there to welcome Ma. (TYH-THN)