Former US president Bill Clinton met with President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen, who read through My Life before meeting with its author, hosted a dinner banquet for Clinton at the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Sunday night and arranged a one-hour talk with Clinton at the Taipei Guest House yesterday morning.
Chen gave Clinton a saxophone as a gift at the Sunday banquet. Officials attending the dinner said both men shared their political experiences and that Clinton lauded Chen's courage to seek inter-party cooperation.
"President Chen and Clinton had a great time Sunday night, but they both felt the meeting was too short. So they decided to meet again at the Taipei Guest House Monday morning," Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General James Huang (
Huang noted that details of the meeting between Chen and Clinton would not be disclosed. Clinton also met with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
"I found [Chen and Lien] both to be highly intelligent, completely patriotic, devoted to the interests of the people of Taiwan, and not so far apart on some issues as I thought they might be," Clinton said yesterday during an interview with the ETTV channel.
Clinton noted that the Taiwanese people elected Chen by a narrow majority and gave the opposition parties a narrow majority in the legislature.
"What they are saying is that we put you in the same boat. We want you to row and move forward and you have to compromise," he said.
Clinton, who mentioned how the world might move from interdependence to integration in his speech in Taipei on Sunday, said the relationship between China and Taiwan has a lot of similarities to the relationship between blacks and whites in the little town he grew up.
"We are all interdependent. We could not escape each other. You [Taiwan and China] should build on the positive contacts.
Clinton left for Singapore at 5pm yesterday.
Also See Story:
Clinton to Lien: Direct charter flights successful
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
ALL QUIET: The Philippine foreign secretary told senators she would not respond to questions about whether Lin Chia-lung was in the country The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday confirmed that a business delegation is visiting the Philippines, but declined to say whether Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is part of the group, as Philippine lawmakers raised questions over Lin’s reported visit. The group is being led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) vice president Lotta Danielsson, the ministry said in a statement. However, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said that Lin is leading the delegation of 70 people. Filinvest New Clark City Innovation Park
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei