The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed its disappointment over the removal of the Republic of China (ROC) flag from several US government Web sites, saying it has conveyed its grave concerns to Washington.
The ministry made the remarks hours after the Chinese-language United Daily News reported the disappearance of the ROC flag from the Web sites of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs and the Office of the US Trade Representative that displayed the flag on their introduction pages for Taiwan.
The newspaper published screenshots of the Taiwan introduction page on the US trade office’s Web site, one from June last year and the other from Tuesday, to show the removal of the flag.
Screen grab from the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Web site
The US Department of State made the change on its Web site in September last year.
The ministry talked to the US about the matter several months ago, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) told a news conference in Taipei.
“That is why we found the latest flag removal from the Web sites of the two US government agencies not only unthinkable, but also unacceptable and disappointing,” Lee said, adding that Taipei has expressed its serious concerns to Washington.
The US had previously repeatedly reassured the ministry that Taiwan-US ties remained solid and that there was no shift in its policy, Lee said.
“However, we believe that such cases [the removal of the ROC flag] could influence the Taiwanese public’s perception of the status of relations between the two nations,” he said.
The ministry has taken note of Beijing’s increased attempts to use its “sharp power” to squeeze Taipei’s space within international organizations and oppress Taiwan on the supposedly free and open Internet, Lee said.
Such attempts are not conducive to the development of cross-strait ties, Lee added.
“Sharp power,” a term coined by the US-based National Endowment for Democracy, a non-profit organization that promotes democracy, refers to authoritarian efforts to “influence their target audiences by manipulating or distorting the information that reaches them.”
American Institute in Taiwan spokeswoman Sonia Urbom reiterated that the US’ policy toward Taiwan has not changed.
“The United States remains committed to our ‘one China’ policy based on the three joint communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act,” Urbom said.
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS