The Presidential Office yesterday expressed gratitude to the US for its concern over China’s request to US and international airlines to change how they refer to Taiwan, while Washington’s action drew mixed response from others in Taiwan.
Taiwan would continue to support and strive for regional stability and cross-strait peace, despite Beijing’s constant efforts to suppress its international space, Presidential Office spokesman Sydney Lin (林鶴明) said.
The White House on Saturday issued a statement denouncing China’s demand that US and foreign airlines change how they identify Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau on their Web sites.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
The statement came after the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration on April 25 sent a letter to American Airlines, United Airlines and 24 other airlines, enjoining them to remove all descriptions of Taiwan as a country from their Web sites and promotional materials.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) yesterday said China’s efforts to control private firms in other countries was “arbitrary and ill-intentioned.”
The international community must take the issue seriously and have the courage to defy such unreasonable demands, he said.
However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said that while it might appear that US President Donald Trump is defending the sovereignty of the Republic of China, anything Trump does has the US’ interests as his priority.
The US and China are competing against each other, and Taiwan could easily become the US’ chess piece, the lawmaker said.
Alexander Huang (黃介正), an associate professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said that for the US, China asking US-based airlines to remove “Taiwan” from lists of countries is considered interference in its internal affairs.
“Eighty percent of the US’ reaction is due to the US’ consideration of itself as a great power and only 20 percent is a friendly gesture to Taiwan,” cable news channel TVBS quoted Huang as saying.
In related news, Josh Rogin, a columnist who covers foreign policy and national security for the Washington Post, Bloomberg and Foreign Policy magazine, in an online article on Saturday on the Post’s Web site said the Civil Aviation Administration’s letter “mischaracterizes US government policy by saying ‘the one-China policy of your government.’”
“The United States does not have a one-China policy. Washington acknowledges Beijing’s position that there is one China that includes Taiwan and the United States takes no stance on that question. The US government is not going to agree that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China, and neither should American companies,” Rogin wrote.
“The Chinese Communist Party can be forgiven for believing it can use a version of its social credit system on American companies. Nobody has pushed back on this so far. The White House is pledging to start doing that now. It’s a recognition that, as a White House official told me, ‘China is out of control,’” Rogin wrote.
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
The Republic of China (ROC) is celebrating its 114th Double Ten National Day today, featuring military parades and a variety of performances and speeches in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. The Taiwan Taiko Association opened the celebrations with a 100-drummer performance, including young percussionists. As per tradition, an air force Mirage 2000 fighter jet flew over the Presidential Office as a part of the performance. The Honor Guards of the ROC and its marching band also heralded in a military parade. Students from Taichung's Shin Min High School then followed with a colorful performance using floral imagery to represent Taiwan's alternate name
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the
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