US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is slated to lead a delegation to travel to Asia tomorrow which includes Taipei as one of the stops.
The visit will be the first time in decades that Taiwan has received such a high-level US congressional leader.
The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), however, has added uncertainty to the delegation's visit, sources said.
"Right now, everything is still on schedule," said an assistant to Senator Susan Collins, a member of the delegation, by phone on Tuesday afternoon in Washington.
"They are undecided about China," the source added.
The delegation, which includes Frist and seven other senators along with their families and staffers, is scheduled to take a US Air Force jet to Beijing and Shanghai today, before visiting South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, sources in Taipei and Washington said.
The delegation is scheduled to reach Taipei on April 18 for a whirlwind 24-hour visit.
The senators are slated to meet with high-ranking officials including President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), government sources said.
The trip, if completed, will mark the first time since 1985 a US Senate majority leader has visited Taiwan.
Then Senate majority leader Bob Dole visited Taipei in 1985 after the veteran Republican figure was elected to his post in the Senate in November of the previous year.
Officials said Frist's planned visit to Taipei should mark a significant milestone in Taipei-Washington relations.
"Despite the longstanding friendship between Taiwan and the US Congress, it's rare for us to see the visit of such a high-level US congressional leader in Taipei," said a Presidential Office official who declined to be named.
"The visit symbolizes the US emphasis on its relations with Taiwan, especially at a time when the US itself is busy with the war against Iraq, not to mention the threat from SARS," the official said.
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which government officials said is in charge of arranging the delegation's itinerary in Taipei, did not deny nor confirm the delegation's visit yesterday.
Judith Mudd-Krijgelmans, spokesperson for AIT's Taipei office, said she could not confirm the scheduled visit to Taipei by the US congressional delegation.
A former heart and lung transplant specialist, Frist is the only physician currently serving in the US Congress.
The Harvard-educated physician joined the Senate eight years ago, representing Tennessee.
He was recently elected to replace Trent Lott, who stepped down as majority leader last December after making some comments that were taken as supporting racism.
Other key senators in the delegation include Susan Collins of Maine, who serves as the chairperson of the Senate's Government Affairs Committee and Don Nickles, who is the chairman of the Senate's Budget Committee.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2