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.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
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