A large US arms sale package has been sent to the White House for review, US government sources said, suggesting that the US will not make concessions to China.
However, discussions on the package — which would exceed arms sales approved by former US president Barack Obama in both size and quality — are not scheduled to begin until US President Donald Trump has nominated assistant secretaries for Asian and Pacific security affairs at the US Department of State and Department of Defense, said the sources, who asked to remain unnamed.
Political observers have said that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) will be gauging each other’s capabilities while attempting to build a personal relationship at an ongoing US-China summit.
Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) yesterday said in Taipei that the government was keeping close tabs on the summit taking place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
A team tasked with giving President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regular briefings on the summit has been closely following developments from the meeting, he said.
The US is Taiwan’s most important international ally, Huang said, without providing details on Taipei’s expectations for the meeting.
“The US government attaches great importance to peace and stability in East Asia, including the continuation of good Taiwan-US relations,” Huang said. “A stable East Asia is crucial to US interests.”
As a member of the international community, Taiwan will continue to develop a solid cooperative relationship with the US and contribute to peace and stability in the region, he added.
Separately yesterday, Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said he hoped that the US can maintain stable relations with China and that Taipei can have the same stable relationship with Washington and Beijing.
Regarding the possibility of the nation participating in the World Healthy Assembly — the WHO’s policymaking body — in Geneva, Switzerland, next month, which Taiwan has yet to be invited to, Lin said Taiwan has the right to participate in all international organizations, particularly the assembly, as healthcare and combating disease are basic human rights and an obligation of global citizens.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique