Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday that Beijing's draft "anti-secession" law targeting Taiwan runs counter to US-China diplomatic ties mandating that China should resolve the Taiwan issue in a peaceful manner.
Lu, who arrived in Houston on Saturday night for a three-day transit stay en route to El Salvador for a state visit, said during her flight to Houston that if the "anti-secession" law were indeed passed and allows the People's Liberation Army to use "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan, the law would seriously contradict the principles of the Taiwan Relations Act.
Lu departed Taipei on Saturday for an official visit to El Salvador and Guatemala. She is also scheduled to make transit stops in Houston and Miami during her 12-day trip.
Lu said Beijing's "anti-secession" law is not just a problem for Taiwan, but is a concern for the whole world, particularly the US.
She said that before departing Taipei, she has exchanged views with President Chen Shui-bian (
Lu was accorded a reception befitting a visitor of her status upon her arrival in Houston, with William Brown, acting chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and David Lee (李大維), Taiwan's top liaison officer in the US, going aboard Lu's charter flight to welcome her.
Lu was scheduled to eat at a Houston steakhouse that Chen visited in June 2001 at noon yesterday and meet with a group of pro-Taiwan lawmakers in Texas.
In the evening, Lu is scheduled to deliver a speech on the implications of Beijing's enactment of the "anti-secession" law at a dinner with some 300 overseas Taiwanese who will come from around the state of Texas.
Lu is scheduled to visit NASA headquarters Monday morning.
According to the delegation's itinerary, Lu will inspect the possibility of establishing a "Taiwan Park" for industries in El Salvador, in the hopes that the park's construction can be completed and its operations begun within the remaining three years of Chen's term.
Lu will also attend a regional meeting of the Democratic Pacific Union (DPU) in America in Guatemala. Six Central American allies and five non-allied countries in North, Central and South America will attend the meeting, Lu said, adding that this will be a warm-up to a DPU regional organization to be established in Taipei on August 14.
During the 12-day visit, she will call on Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca and Vice President Ana Vilma De Escobar and Guatemalan President Oscar Berger.
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,