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One of the top stories from this past week was that Vice President Chen Chien-jen concluded a trip to the Dominican Republic, calling it a success.
Chen spent four days in the country as part of his first overseas trip since he took office in May. The Dominican Republic is one of Taiwan’s 22 diplomatic allies, and Chen was there for the inauguration of the country’s president, Danilo Medina.
Upon returning to Taiwan on Saturday, Chen told reporters that the trip saw the successful implementation of the Tsai administration’s foreign policy, dubbed “steadfast diplomacy”. He said that the visit allowed Taiwan to make friends in a mutually beneficial way and discuss matters of mutual concern.
Chen also said that the trip gave him the opportunity to strengthen Taiwan’s relationships with other allied nations. He said that during the inauguration, he met with leaders and envoys from allies including Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Haiti.
Chen said that during the trip, he also learned more about the investment opportunities the Dominican Republic has to offer Taiwanese business. He said that a solar power plant built with Taiwanese investment has become one of the Dominican Republic’s important sources of electricity.
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Also this past week, the government on Friday estimated that Taiwan’s economy will grow by 1.22% this year. That’s slightly higher than the last prediction of 1.06% GDP growth.
The government statistics office also revised growth figures from earlier in the year. It said that growth from the first quarter of 2016 was negative 0.29%, rather than the negative 0.68% stated previously.
The office said preliminary figures put Taiwan’s GDP growth for the second quarter of the year at 0.70%. It predicted growth of 1.99% for the third quarter and 2.38% for the fourth quarter, giving an overall total for the year of 1.22% growth.
The office also predicted that the economy will grow by 1.88% in 2017.
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And finally, this past week, the commander of the Army tank that overturned into a river earlier this week has died. That brings the death toll from the accident to four.
Wu De-wei died of multiple organ failure on Thursday evening, two days after he was pulled from the submerged tank on Tuesday. Three other members of the tank crew, Chen Shih-kun, Chen Ping-yi and Chang Chih-wei, died at the scene of the accident.
The only survivor of the tank’s five-man crew was the driver, Yang Yen-lin. Yang is now being questioned over whether he bears responsibility for the deaths of his fellow crew members.
The tank plunged off a bridge into a river as it was returning from a drill in the southern county of Pingtung on Tuesday. Yang has told prosecutors that the tank’s brakes malfunctioned as it was coming down an incline. The tank overturned into the river. Yang escaped with minor scratches but the other four crew members were trapped inside the compartment and could not be reached by rescuers for over an hour.