Taiwan's future should be determined by the Taiwanese -- not by China or the US, visiting members of the US Congress said yesterday.
`This is an issue to be determined by the people of Taiwan, not by any outside forces or through any sort of hostility or aggressive action,'' said Representative Steve Chabot, honorary co-chair of the US Congressional Taiwan Caucus.
The US lawmakers vowed to continue supporting Taiwan saying all democratic countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Taiwan constituted an instrumental alliance for the US.
US support for Taiwan was bipartisan, Chabot said.
Chabot said he had stressed the importance of Taiwan to the US during his meeting with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on Wednesday.
The Taiwan Caucus is a pro-Taiwan US congressional group formed by 85 members of the House of Representatives and the Senate on April 9 last year.
Chabot made the statement during a press conference at the Grand Hotel in Taipei yesterday morning, regarding a one-day international conference among members of parliament from the Asia-Pacific region slated to open today.
Chabot expected the conference to improve and strengthen the US-Taiwan relationship, making clear to China that the US stands on Taiwan's side.
Other members of Congress present at the press conference echoed Chabot's support for Taiwan.
Dana Rohrabacher, who also serves as honorary co-chair of the caucus, said any democratic states in the Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan, were important allies for the US.
Rohrabacher also said a democratic system was feasible in China in view of the democratization process in Taiwan, adding that the US is more than willing to befriend pro-democracy and anti-dictatorship forces in China.
Rohrabacher, added that Taiwan's future "is not up to a group of powerful figures on the mainland, and it's not up to the United States government as well."
"Why would people who live in a democracy want to surrender themselves up to a dictatorial system run by some power-hungry individuals who don't care about human rights?" he said.
Representative Robert Wexler, a third honorary co-chair of the caucus, lauded Taiwan's move to host the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Asia-Pacific Security, saying the exchange of ideas during the seminar would help democracy take root in the region.
Around 65 lawmakers from the US, Canada, France, Japan, Australia, Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, Belarus, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Portugal, New Zealand, South Korea, Malaysia and India will attend the conference today at the Grand Hotel.
President Chen is slated to give a welcome speech, with Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) giving a luncheon speech and former president Lee delivering a talk at the end of the conference, according to the schedule.
The conference will include group discussions on trilateral relations between Taiwan, Japan and the US, free passage through the Taiwan Strait, anti-terrorism, democracy and human rights, and economy and trade.
Meanwhile, Deputy Representative to the US Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said seven incumbent members of the US Congress and two former ones -- an unprecedented number -- were currently in Taiwan for the seminar.
Tsai also said Taiwan's de facto embassy in Washington would strive to invite more members of Congress to visit Taiwan despite a dwindling number of US visitors from Capitol Hill last year.
Tsai said members of Congress reduced their overseas visits last year in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and the mid-term elections in the US in the latter half of last year.
When asked whether he supported the initiative by some US-based overseas Taiwanese to rename Taiwan's office in Washington from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to the Taiwan Representative Office, Tsai said pushing for substantial diplomacy was more important than a simple name change.
Tsai also said the proposal would require a consensus in Taiwan on the matter to ensure its success. A delegation of 10 Taiwanese-American organizations on Wednesday presented 10,000 petition letters written by Taiwanese-Americans to the president to seek his support for the name rectification campaign.
Japan on Wednesday rejected Beijing’s accusations that the Japanese military harassed a Chinese aircraft carrier strike group during 40 days of exercises in “distant waters” of the Pacific. The Chinese navy earlier this week said that Japanese ships and aircraft “repeatedly engaged in close-range tracking, surveillance, harassment and provocation.” China said a formation led by its Liaoning aircraft carrier had operated in areas including the South China Sea and the western Pacific for “multiple rounds of day-and-night offensive and defensive exercise.” The Liaoning group “maintained a high state of alert throughout, launching carrier-based aircraft for combat sorties ... and steadily responding to the
COUNTER: The government should put forward a more proactive exchange policy for the youth and encourage them to engage with the wider world, the source said Beijing is trying to entice young Taiwanese to attend the Cross-Strait Sun Yat-sen Forum in Guangdong Province, China, by offering to cover all their expenses except round-trip airfare, an official said yesterday. “The cheapest things are the most expensive,” an official familiar with China’s “united front” work said, adding that such tours typically include visits to “red propaganda bases.” “These kinds of united front trips only end up bringing back a lot of falsehoods,” said the official, who wished to remain anonymous. The forum, which began on Saturday last week, ends today. China is offering an all-expense paid trip to Taiwanese participants aged
GLOBAL CONCERN: The UK, German and French offices reiterated their opposition to unilateral changes to the Taiwan Strait ‘status quo,’ particularly by threat or force The UK, Germany and France’s de facto embassies in Taiwan, as well as the US’ office, yesterday expressed concern over China’s “special maritime law enforcement operations” in waters east of Taiwan, saying that such behavior threatens regional stability. In a joint statement issued by the British Office Taipei, the German Institute Taipei and the French Office in Taipei, the three offices, which represent their respective countries’ interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties, said that they had “noted with concern novel Chinese activity in the waters east of Taiwan.” “These actions threaten regional stability, and the freedom of navigation
BUDGET HICCUP: While the NCSIST said part of the system is ready for deployment, opposition lawmakers removed the project’s funding during its legislative review Taiwan’s integrated air defense intelligence system is on track to be completed by the end of the year, and, if additional funding is approved, the military aims to deploy it next year, a military source said. The first phase of a next-generation, domestically developed regional air defense system combines the Huanzhan Project (寰展計畫), which integrates air defense intelligence across the armed forces, and the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s (NCSIST) Chiang Kung (強弓, “Strong Bow”) missile defense program, the source said on Saturday. The Huanzhan Project would establish an automated joint command-and-control network linking the army, navy and air force, replacing
RSS