The government has established a special bank account to accept public donations that will go to Ukrainian refugees driven from their country by a Russian invasion that shows no sign of relenting.
The account number 102-005-124-619 was established under the name of the Relieve Disaster Foundation (?????????), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a press release Wednesday.
The special account, expected to be active for at least a month, opened Wednesday to donations made via automated teller machine or bank transfer, and online donations can be made starting Thursday, the MOFA statement said.
MOFA said it has asked its representative office in Poland to establish contacts with Polish government-designated NGOs to make sure the donated money will be spent on refugees from Ukraine who have settled there.
Meanwhile, President Tsai Ing-wen (???), Vice President Lai Ching-te (???), and Premier Su Tseng-chang (???) all pledged to donate one month of their salary to help with relief efforts for Ukraine.
Tsai also called on party officials of her ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to support the donation drive and urged all Taiwanese to do the same to show the world that Taiwan stands with Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Eric Chu (???), chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), also announced that he and all top level KMT party officials will donate a month of their salaries to help Ukrainian refugees.
Their pledged donations will be made via Taiwan’s Red Cross instead of via the government’s special account, he said.
The government has said it intended to join the United States and other countries in imposing sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, but it has yet to provide any specifics of the items that will be covered.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel