Taiwan VP unshaken after alleged China plot in Prague
TAIPEI: Taiwan's vice president said she would not be intimidated by Beijing after the government accused Chinese embassy staff of planning to ram her car during an official visit to Europe.
Taiwan's top China policy body, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), on Friday said Hsiao Bi-khim's motorcade was followed, surveilled and nearly hit by a car during a visit to the Czech Republic in March 2024.
Citing a Czech intelligence agency report, the council said staff from the Chinese Embassy in Prague were behind the incident.
"I had a great visit to Prague & thank the Czech authorities for their hospitality & ensuring my safety," Hsiao, who was vice president-elect at the time of the trip, posted on social media on Saturday.
"The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community."
"Taiwan will not be isolated by intimidation," she added.
Like most countries, Prague does not have official diplomatic relations with Taipei.
China claims Taiwan as its territory and in recent years, has ramped up the deployment of fighter jets and warships around the self-ruled island. It has also sought to erase Taiwan from the international stage by poaching its diplomatic allies and blocking it from global forums.
Taipei said on Friday that "the Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic followed, conducted surveillance on, and even attempted to ram the motorcade, seriously threatening the personal safety of Vice President Hsiao and her entourage."
It added the incident exposed CCP's "violent nature" and lack of "sincerity" in communication.
A Taiwan security official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said it was a "typical case" of China's "transnational repression" against dissidents or those who criticise China.
"China uses legal grey areas to harass, threaten or oppress their targets," the official said.
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international group that has challenged Beijing's human rights record, said in a statement signed by 51 lawmakers from nearly 30 countries that it supported Hsiao and "Taiwanese citizens who may be subject to coercion by the Chinese state while travelling abroad."
China's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Friday that Prague had violated the "One-China principle" and its political commitments to China by allowing Hsaio, who it called a diehard "Taiwan independence" activist, to visit.
"Chinese diplomats always abide by the laws and regulations of host countries," he said. He urged other countries not to be exploited by "Taiwan independence" separatists to "stir up troubles" and undermine the relations with China.--AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Media Prima wins three gold prizes, four merits at 2025 Kinabalu Press Awards
KOTA KINABALU: Media Prima Bhd took home three gold prizes and four merit prizes at the 2025 Kinabalu Press Awards. TV3's Safwan Sawi and Mohammed Fairuz Yazzer each won a gold prize in the Entertainment Reporting and Environmental Journalism categories, respectively. Photographer Mohd Adam Arinin clinched gold in the Best Picture category. From the New Straits Times, Ersie Anjumin received a merit prize for Entertainment Reporting, Paul Mu for Environmental Journalism, and Olivia Miwil for Sports Journalism. Harian Metro's Recqueal Raimi also earned a merit prize in the Sports Journalism category. This year's awards attracted 268 entries. The Sabah Journalists Association also honoured 90-year-old Chan Kang Yuan with the Tokoh Wartawan Sabah (Sabah Journalism Icon) title, recognising his unwavering dedication, professionalism, and courageous commitment to truthful reporting throughout his six-decade career. Starting in 1958, Chan rose from copywriter to editor-in-chief of several Chinese-language newspapers, covering key historical events from colonial rule to the formation of Malaysia. He was detained for 18 months under the Internal Security Act in 1969 for defying censorship but returned to journalism with the same fearless resolve until his retirement in 2021. The awards ceremony was attended by Sabah Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, who represented Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, along with Sabah Journalists Association president Mariah Doksil. In a speech delivered by Joniston, Hajiji said the success of communicating government policies and initiatives relies heavily on the media's role in delivering clear and effective information to the people. "In the context of state development, the government remains committed to implementing various people-centric initiatives under the Sabah Maju Jaya Development Plan to accelerate progress in Sabah. "I hope this strategic partnership will continue to be strengthened to help the government disseminate important information on development and the state's direction to the public." He added that media reporting also helps the government stay informed about grassroots issues and public concerns. Meanwhile, Mariah said the role of mainstream media remains critically important. "Mainstream media plays a central role in ensuring fair, accurate, and balanced reporting, especially as we become increasingly flooded with fake news and half-truths across various social media platforms. "The public must have access to credible and authoritative information, delivered in the proper context, and this is where mainstream media plays an irreplaceable role. "We believe that all parties, the government, private sector, and general public, must work together to ensure that mainstream media remains healthy and continues to operate independently and responsibly."
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Israeli court postpones Netanyahu appearance in graft trial
JERUSALEM: An Israeli court on Sunday postponed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's testimony in his corruption trial after he requested a delay with the suppport of US President Donald Trump, in a ruling published by the premier's party. "Following the explanations given... we partially accept the request and cancel at this stage Mr Netanyahu's hearings scheduled" for this week, the Jerusalem district court said in its ruling, published online by the Likud party. Netanyahu's lawyers had asked the court to excuse him from testifying over the next two weeks so he could focus on security issues following a ceasefire with Iran and amid ongoing fighting in Gaza where Israeli hostages are held. They had submitted Netanyahu's schedule to the court to demonstrate "the national need for the prime minister to devote all his time and energy to the political, national and security issues at hand." The court initially rejected the lawyers' request but said in its ruling on Sunday that it had changed its judgement after hearing arguments from the prime minister, the head of military intelligence and the chief of the Mossad spy agency. Trump on Wednesday described the case against Netanyahu as a "witch hunt", saying the trial "should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero." He added in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that the United States was "not going to stand" for the continued prosecution, prompting Netanyahu to thank him in a message on X. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Thursday criticised Trump, saying he "should not interfere in a judicial trial in an independent country." Netanyahu has thanked Trump for his support in Israel's brief war against Iran, which ended with a ceasefire on June 24. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and his supporters have described the long-running trial as politically motivated. In a first case, he and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than US$260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewellery and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favours. In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favourable coverage from two Israeli media outlets. During his current term, which started in late 2022, Netanyahu's government has proposed a series of far-reaching judicial reforms that critics say were designed to weaken the courts. Netanyahu has requested multiple postponements in the trial since it began in May 2020.--AFP
The Star
4 hours ago
- The Star
UN agency pushes AI ethics standards as US-China tech rivalry deepens
A United Nations agency is rallying policymakers, non-government organisations and academics to support its ethics guidelines on artificial intelligence (AI) at a time when the technology is rapidly changing the world. Unesco, the 194-member UN heritage agency that produced the world's first – and so far only – global AI ethics standards four years ago, hosted a forum in Bangkok this week to drive the adoption of its recommendations. However, there is a long way to go before the recommendations could be turned into a universal, actionable framework amid an intensifying AI race between the US and China, according to analysts. At the opening on Wednesday of the third Unesco Global Forum on the Ethics of AI, Unesco director general Audrey Azoulay called for collaboration among governments, businesses and civil society to come up with an international solution. 'That is what Unesco is working to provide – preparing the world for AI and preparing AI for the world, ensuring it serves the common good,' she said. The message comes as hopes are dimming for a global consensus on AI ethics. A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced a bill in both chambers of Congress to ban the federal use of China-linked AI tools such as DeepSeek, in the latest sign of hostility in the tech rivalry between the world's two largest economies. Meanwhile, the world's largest AI companies, from US-based OpenAI and Google to China's DeepSeek, were absent from the forum, which attracted more than 1,000 participants and 35 government ministers, mainly from Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America. When asked how other countries would respond to the divisions in the AI world, Wisit Wisitsora-At, Permanent Secretary at the Thai Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, said Thailand would not take sides in the US-China competition, adding that it would try to develop its own AI ecosystem. Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who is facing political pressure at home over a leaked phone call with Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, delivered a speech in English, listing her country's AI development goals, including 90,000 AI professionals and over US$15 billion in spending for AI infrastructure. With the noticeable absence of American and Chinese government delegations at the three-day event – even though the US rejoined the group in 2023 after its withdrawal during the first Trump administration – the forum provided a stage for policymakers from the Asean region and 'global south' countries, from Malaysia and Indonesia to Zambia and Zimbabwe, to voice their ambitions, concerns and priorities in coping with AI. Irakli Khodeli, the head of ethics at Unesco's AI unit, said in an interview on Thursday that different countries had their own priorities for now, with some highlighting 'security' while others were aiming for 'access to AI'. A key aim of the gathering was to discuss the 'readiness assessment methodology', a tool to turn the UN body's AI ethics recommendations into policy actions. The assessment includes a questionnaire for governments, asking questions such as, 'Is there a specific consideration for the impact of AI on land and water use?'. More than 70 countries have taken part in the methodology. 'It is not a talk shop, it is a workshop for members to exchange notes,' Khodeli said of the event. At the gathering, some participants publicly outlined the challenges faced in applying ethics guardrails to AI development. Rachel Adams, founding CEO of the Global Centre on AI Governance, a non-profit organisation in South Africa, and author of The New Empire of AI: The Future of Global Inequality , said many civil society groups were having funding problems since US President Donald Trump shut down the United States Agency for International Development. During a panel discussion at the event, Zeng Yi, dean of the Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance and a professor with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said it was not difficult for countries to agree on terminologies such as transparency, but it was much harder to translate them into actual measures on the ground. Unesco sponsored the South China Morning Post's trip to the Bangkok event. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
