The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI), a think tank that aims to protect Taiwanese democracy and national security by strengthening Taiwan-US relations, on Wednesday held an event at its headquarters in Washington to mark its inauguration.
The GTI is the first US-based think tank dedicated to Taiwanese interests and is said to be well-funded, reportedly spending US$24 million on the property for its headquarters in Dupont Circle, a neighborhood known for its heavy presence of embassies and prestigious think tanks.
The event was attended by almost 100 Taiwanese-Americans, research institute experts, diplomats and politicians.
Photo: CNA
Among the attendees were US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of the Republican Party and US Representative Grace Meng of the Democratic Party; New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐); Taiwan’s Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰); former US senior official to APEC Robert Wang; US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) senior vice president for Asia Michael Green; Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia and director of the China Power Project at the CSIS; and Heritage Foundation director of Asian studies Walter Lohman.
GTI chairman Robert Lai (賴義雄) said the institute’s mission is to develop leaders and advocates for a strong Taiwan-US relationship for the next generation.
Kao said the GTI and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US have the same aims, and he looked forward to the two working together to promote Taiwan in the international community, and to improving and strengthening Taiwan-US relations, according to the Central News Agency.
Ros-Lehtinen said the US must remain committed to the “six assurances” — a series of guarantees for Taiwanese security against Chinese claims — as the foundation of US-Taiwan relations.
The GTI said it would hold its first academic conference on Thursday next week. The conference is to be chaired by former American Institute in Taiwan deputy director David Keegan and is to look at issues such as whether the US needs to change course on its Taiwan policy that was set out in 1994.
Sources who attended the event said that US lawmakers are expected to propose a bill which would lift restrictions barring high-ranking Taiwanese officials from visiting Washington and US military commanders from visiting Taiwan.
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,
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
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not
RSS