Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (
It was the first time a high-ranking official from the ministry has confirmed that the issue has effected changes in Taiwan-US relations.
Kau said the attitude of the US had not apparently changed and that it was still too early to say if Washington opposes President Chen Shui-bian's (
Kau was referring to US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli's recent comment during a daily press briefing that "We [the US] oppose any unilateral measures that affect the status quo, including this referendum."
Kau was speaking at a brunch held by the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus yesterday morning. He attended the meeting on behalf of Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
In related news, Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
Progress was made each time dialogue took place, he said.
Taiwan had yet to achieve a satisfactory result, he said, but the current situation was not the worst imaginable.
"The next three to five months will be the key phase," he said.
To improve dialogue with the US, the Presidential Office will send a high-ranking delegation to Washington later this month. Chiou said the main goal will be to help US think tanks, academics, media outlets and the general public understand the substance of Taiwan's referendum.
The government would make an all-out effort to avoid any misunderstandings, Chiou said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
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