The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded positively to a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker’s proposal to invite former US president Barack Obama to visit Taiwan, saying that it would plan a visit that would demonstrate the solid and friendly Taiwan-US relationship.
DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said former US presidents, such as Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, have visited Taiwan after leaving office.
The 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed by Obama before he left office, broke the barrier between Taiwan-US military ties since the US switched recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979, Lin said.
“It is the sense of [US] Congress that the [US] secretary of defense should conduct a program of senior military exchanges between the United States and Taiwan that have the objective of improving military-to-military relations and defense cooperation between the United States and Taiwan,” Section 1284 of the act said.
A “sense of Congress” is not legally binding, even though the language is included in otherwise legally effective legislation.
Taiwan should invite Obama to show the world that Taiwan-US relations are strong, Lin said.
Lin said that Taiwan should take action instead of being passive, noting that Obama has made multiple visits to Asian nations, including Indonesia and Vietnam.
The ministry said it would evaluate the possibility of extending such an invitation in a written response to Lin’s proposal.
Since Obama was elected for his second term in 2012, the US government made significant steps in furthering Taiwan-US ties by not only mentioning the Taiwan Relations Act multiple times in public, but also calling on China to develop cross-strait relations on the basis that actions would render dignity and respect unto Taiwan, the ministry said.
Singling out the US’ authorization of three separated arms package sales to Taiwan in 2010, 2011 and 2015 for a combined total of US$14 billion, the ministry said the sales bolstered national defense capabilities, and had shown Washington’s support and friendship toward Taiwan.
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