Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
Chiou was accompanied by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂), National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Ko Cheng-heng (柯承亨) and DPP legislators Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Chen Chung-hsin (陳忠信).
They were expected to meet with White House Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
The Presidential Office yesterday said little about the trip, but it is thought that Chiou will discuss the DPP government's plan to hold a referendum on or before presidential election day next year.
President Chen Shui-bian (
Although the US government has made it clear that Taiwan has to make the decision on whether to hold referendums, some officials have reportedly expressed their reservations about the plan.
Douglas Paal, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, was quoted in Chinese-language news-papers as telling Chen that the US opposed any kind of referendum because Beijing would construe them as provocative. Paal denied making the comment.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
"We think Chiou is the most appropriate person to communicate with the US," Chien said after the DPP's weekly closed-door Central Standing Committee meeting.
A foreign ministry spokesman, however, denied that Kau would also be discussing the referendum while in Washington.
Kau's trip will focus on his visit to the National Endowment for Democracy and expressing the government's gratitude for US support for Taiwan's bid to join the WHO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Richard Shih (石瑞琦) said.
Meanwhile, Chien also confirmed that Vice President Annette Lu (
Also see story:
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