Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) said yesterday it is almost impossible for Taiwan to send troops to Iraq because the deployment would unavoidably touch on sensitive international issues and involve the UN.
William Triplett's article "Send in the (Taiwan) Marines" in the US magazine Human Events triggered heated discussions in the legislature's Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee, where legislators expressed diverse opinions on the idea of being militarily engaged in Iraq.
On May 20, two pro-Taiwan US House members introduced a resolution calling on US President George W. Bush to ask Taiwan to deploy marines to Iraq.
Kau said during the committee's question-and-answer session that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) held a meeting on May 3 to discuss Triplett's proposal.
The meeting concluded it is impossible to carry out the proposal, Kau said.
Participants in the meeting, which was hosted by MOFA's Research and Planning Board, included retired Admiral Nelson Ku (
Kau said the meeting was a routine one to review international news. As Triplett's article was published on April 27, it was natural to include it in the review, he said.
"It will take a long time for the [US] resolution to be passed," said Kau, adding that some officials and media outlets have overreacted to the proposal.
Taiwan has a history of offering humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and Iraq, but whether it should expand its involvement depends on developments in these areas, Kau said.
"We are not doing everything the US bids us to do," Kau said.
Kau said the ministry did not participate in drafting the resolution put forth by Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher, co-chairman of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, and Republican Representative Jim Ryun, also a member of the Taiwan Caucus.
The US representatives did not inform the ministry of the resolution ahead of introducing it, nor did they have Taiwanese and US officials discuss any deployment, Kau said.
PFP Legislator Tsai Chung-han (
However, DPP Legislator Trong Tsai (
Recalling the US dispatching aircraft carriers to protect Taiwan amid high cross-strait tensions, Trong Tsai said: "Without US help, Taiwan would have been in China's grasp long ago."
"Doing so will benefit Taiwan in the long run," he said, adding that sending marines to Iraq would mark the start of another phase of Taiwan-US military cooperation.
Also See Story:
Rumors surround `troops to Iraq' plan
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
RSS