The raising of the Republic of China’s (ROC) national flag at a New Year’s Day ceremony at Twin Oaks Estate in Washington last week was “not consistent” with US policy, US Department of State spokesperson Jan Psaki said on Monday.
“We did not know about the Jan. 1 flag-raising at Twin Oaks in advance,” she said.
The statement — made in answer to a question at the daily press briefing — came as a surprise.
Photo: CNA
Representative to the US Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) was quoted following the flag-raising ceremony as saying he had notified the administration of US President Barack Obama in advance and was granted permission to raise the flag as long as it was not widely publicized.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington referred questions about Psaki’s reaction to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei.
According to earlier reports, Beijing was “furious” about the flag-raising and lodged a formal objection.
It was believed to be the first time that the Taiwanese flag had been raised at Twin Oaks — the residence of the nation’s official representative to the US — since the US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing 36 years ago.
Sources who closely monitor the Taiwan-US relationship told the Taipei Times on Monday they were “very surprised” by the State Department statement because it seemed “inconceivable” that TECRO would raise the flag without US permission.
“Why do it now? It doesn’t make any sense,” one source said.
He said the relationship was so “sensitive” and subject to such tight diplomatic protocols that nothing could be gained and potentially much goodwill could be lost by ignoring the agreed-upon rules.
Psaki said that the US remained fully committed to the “one China” policy, based on the three communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act.
“No US government personnel attended the event in any capacity,” Psaki said.
“Nothing has changed as it relates to our relationship,” she added.
A US reporter asked: “Are you objecting to a private ceremony at which there was — that some people raised the Taiwanese flag?”
“We just said the ceremony is not consistent with our policy. That’s it,” Psaki replied.
The reporter pressed: “Well, so what?”
Psaki said she had been asked for the US position on the flag-raising and was giving that position.
The reporter then asked: “If I raise the flag of Narnia over my house, that’s going to be inconsistent with US policy?”
There was laughter in the press room as Psaki answered: “We may talk about you, but I don’t know if I’ll have a US government comment on it.”
The reporter asked if the US government was involved “in any way, shape or form” in the raising of the Taiwanese flag at Twin Oaks.
“No, we were not,” Psaki said. “We didn’t attend. We didn’t know about it. That’s our specific comment.”
The reporter asked: “Can you not raise the Taiwan flag in the United States? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I don’t have anything more,” Psaki replied.
Finally, she was asked if China had made a protest and she said: “I’d point you to the Chinese on that.”
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
RSS