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.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
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