Former minister of national defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) yesterday said that from his recent talks with former US national security official Stephen Yates, it can be surmised that the new US administration to be headed by president-elect Donald Trump will reassess Taiwan-US relations, which could lead to a major breakthrough in official ties between Washington and Taipei.
Tsai made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency, adding that he and Yates are old friends and they met last week for informal talks when Yates was visiting Taipei.
Tsai, who was Taiwan’s deputy representative to the US and deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council, said Yates predicted that the Trump administration will reconsider Washington’s international relationships, which includes US-China and Taiwan-US ties.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“Trump has placed a priority on US interests, therefore opportunities are opening up to broaden ties and exchanges between Taiwan and the US,” Tsai said.
Noting that the US Senate and Congress recently approved the National Defense Authorization Act for the coming year — which is to be implemented when it is signed into law by US President Barack Obama before his term expires — Tsai said that it will be the first time that senior military officials can legally host reciprocal visits and exchanges between Taiwan and the US.
Therefore, when Trump is inaugurated as US president next month, this law would promote major breakthroughs in official ties and exchanges between Taiwan and the US, Tsai said.
He recommended that Taiwan’s foreign affairs institutions lobby Washington for more changes.
Trump has said that he would put the interests of the US first, which would help promote and adjust the Taiwan-US relationship, Tsai said.
“Just as Trump wrote on Twitter that he spoke with the president, so must we take the initiative when these opportunities present themselves,” he said.
Tsai said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and foreign affairs officials should lobby Washington to change the name of the de facto consulate in the US to the “Taiwan Representative Office.”
Taiwan’s representative office in Washington is called the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.
“This move would be opposed by China. We must not sit back and do nothing just because China is against it,” Michael Tsai said.
“It is important to convey the needs and wants of Taiwanese to the US. If we do not stand up on the representative office issue, then the US will not even consider it,” he added.
Chen Chien-jen (程建人), former foreign affairs minister and former representative to the US under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, yesterday said that “Taipei” was chosen instead of Taiwan for the representative office name when the US broke official diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 to “avoid indicating any sense of Taiwanese independence at the time.”
“However, I do not believe lobbying for a new name is an urgent matter,” Chen said. “Right now Taiwan needs to steadfastly push forward our foreign affairs policy. It is most important to maintain cross-strait peace and security, and enhance our relationship with the US.”
‘NO EQUILIBRIUM’: Taiwan’s increased defense spending is a good step, but it needs to do more to have the ability to deter aggression from China, a senior US official said The US plans to sell as many as seven major weapons systems — including mines, cruise missiles and drones — to Taiwan, four people familiar with the discussions said. Pursuing seven sales at once is a rare departure from years of precedent in which US military sales to Taiwan were spaced out and carefully calibrated to minimize tensions with Beijing. However, US President Donald Trump’s administration has this year become more aggressive with China, and the sales would land as relations between Beijing and Washington are at their lowest point in decades over accusations of spying, lingering trade tensions, disputes about the
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: Several of the PLA fighter jets that crossed the median line of the Strait came within 68km of Hsinchu, drawing warnings from Taiwan, the ministry said At least 18 Chinese military aircraft yesterday flew into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on the second day of a US delegation’s visit, the Ministry of National Defense said, adding that the military responded by deploying an air defense missile system to monitor their activities. A delegation led by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach on Thursday started a three-day visit to Taiwan. The ministry from Thursday started publicizing the actions of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Taiwan’s ADIZ on its Web site and Twitter. According to ministry reports, 18 PLA aircraft
ON THEIR OWN: The KMT has decided not to participate as a party at this year’s forum, and if any members do go, they would not be representing the party, Alicia Wang said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday announced that it would not send a delegation “as a political party” to this year’s Straits Forum, after a Chinese TV program described the planned visit to the annual meeting as “suing for peace.” The 12th forum is scheduled to open in Xiamen, China, on Saturday. On Tuesday last week, the KMT announced that former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) would lead the party’s delegation to the forum, with KMT Secretary-General Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) as deputy head. However, on Thursday last week, China Central Television’s (CCTV) Yangshipin (央視頻) program, hosted by Li Hong (李紅), included a headline
WORKING OVERTIME? NTU professor Lee Duu-jong denied that he had held a part-time position at a Chinese university or joined China’s Thousand Talents Program A candidate for the post of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) president yesterday dropped out of the race following a report questioning his links to Chinese academia and government programs. Lee Duu-jong (李篤中), a professor at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) chemical engineering department, was a member of China’s Changjiang Scholars’ Program in 2006 and was on the list of its Thousand Talents Program in 2017, a report by Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine said yesterday. The article said that Lee is suspected of having held a part-time job at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China and was the recipient
RSS