Sixteen Taiwanese-American organizations urged former US president Bill Clinton in a letter to be “scrupulously neutral” politically when he visits Taipei this weekend.
The signatories fear that Clinton, who will be in Taiwan making a paid speech on Sunday, could be misrepresented as endorsing the policies of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
“Many topics, such as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement [ECFA], have turned into sensitive campaign issues,” the letter said, in reference to the hotly contested Nov. 27 special municipality elections.
The Ma administration, it said, has frequently used foreign visitors to give the impression that its policies of accommodation with China have “reduced tension” across the Taiwan Strait.
“In our view, this is a flawed and superficial argument,” it said. “China lessened its threats only because the Ma administration has made Taiwan subservient. In fact, the number of missiles China targets at Taiwan has increased.”
It will be Clinton’s first visit to Taiwan since February 2005, when he charged NT$8 million (US$258,000) to make a speech. On that occasion, tickets to attend a book-signing event for his autobiography, My Life, were NT$10,000.
The letter warned Clinton that the Ma administration has “drifted in China’s direction” at the expense of freedom and human rights, adding that he should speak out openly and forcefully for Taiwan’s democracy during his visit.
“We are apprehensive that unwittingly your visit may be used by the Ma administration to score political points,” it said. “If a meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou is entertained, we hope you will also grant an audience to Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen [蔡英文] of the Democratic Progressive Party.”
The letter reminded Clinton that in February 2000 he declared that the issues between Beijing and Taiwan “must be resolved peacefully and with the assent of the people of Taiwan” and implored him to repeat this statement.
Among the letter’s signatories were Terri Giles, executive director of the Formosa Foundation; Linda Lin (林純容), president of the Formosan Association for Human Rights; Bob Yang (楊英育), president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs; and James Chen (陳少明), chairman of World United Formosans for Independence-USA.
Clinton’s visit comes after unsuccessful attempts by former US president George W. Bush and former House speaker Newt Gingrich to visit Taiwan earlier this year.
The Taipei Times has learned that Bush had initially intended to visit Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei, but after his office in Dallas, Texas, allegedly received multiple protests from Chinese officials, the former president’s office said Bush could skip Shanghai and Hong Kong altogether and visit only Taiwan.
Chinese officials then allegedly changed their strategy and shifted the pressure onto Taipei, whereupon the latter allegedly asked Bush to reconsider the timing of his visit, in reference to the Nov. 27 elections.
According to a source, Bush’s visit would not have received any funding from the Taiwanese government.
The Taipei Times has also learned that Gingrich’s visit, which would have been sponsored by a private firm, was initially planned for between June and August, and that the former speaker could not come to Taiwan any later than September, given the midterm elections in the US earlier this month.
After a series of delays, organizers allegedly appealed to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Presidential Office, but approval for the visit was received four months later, by which time Gingrich could no longer visit Taiwan.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious
RSS