US Vice President Mike Pence yesterday was to give China a blunt warning that the US will not back down from intimidation in the South China Sea, as well as condemning Beijing for its poaching of Taiwan’s allies.
Pence was to deliver an address at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, which is likely to increase tensions between the US and China beyond trade disputes.
He was to accuse Beijing of convincing three Latin American nations to sever ties with Taiwan and recognize China.
Photo: Reuters
“These actions threaten the stability of the Taiwan Strait — and the United States of America condemns them. And while our administration will continue to respect our ‘one China’ policy, as reflected in the Three Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act, let me also say that Taiwan’s embrace of democracy shows a better path for all the Chinese people,” Pence was to say.
In excerpts of his speech seen by reporters, Pence was also to call attention to an incident in which a destroyer, the USS Decatur, traveled within 12 nautical miles (22km) of the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) on Sunday.
He was to say that a Chinese naval vessel came within 41m of the USS Decatur “as it conducted freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, forcing our ship to quickly maneuver to avoid collision.”
“Despite such reckless harassment, the United States Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows and our national interests demand. We will not be intimidated. We will not stand down,” the text said.
US President Donald Trump last week accused China of attempting to meddle in the US midterm elections next month, while offering little in the way of evidence. Beijing rejected the charge.
He cited a Chinese government-run media company’s four-page supplement in the Sunday Des Moines Register of Iowa as an attempt to turn voters in that state against Trump’s trade policies.
Pence was to address the issue, saying that the US intelligence community has determined that China is targeting US state and local governments and officials to exploit any divisions between federal and local levels on policy.
“It’s using wedge issues, like trade tariffs, to advance Beijing’s political influence,” he was to say, adding that the goal is to shift Americans’ perception of Chinese policies by mobilizing “covert actors, front groups and propaganda outlets.”
“As a senior career member of our intelligence community recently told me: What the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country,” Pence was to say.
He was also to say that Chinese officials have tried to influence business leaders to condemn US trade actions, “leveraging their desire to maintain their operations in China.”
“In one recent example, they threatened to deny a business license for a major US corporation if it refused to speak out against our administration’s policies,” the text said, without specifying the company.
Pence was also to use the phrase “debt diplomacy” in reference to China’s efforts to expand its influence worldwide.
“Today, that country is offering hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure loans to governments from Asia to Africa to Europe to even Latin America, yet the terms of those loans are opaque at best and the benefits flow overwhelmingly to Beijing,” the text said.
He was also to say that Beijing has extended a lifeline to “the corrupt and incompetent [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro regime,” pledging US$5 billion in loans that could be repaid with oil.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)