Therese Shaheen, former chairwoman of the American Institute in Taiwan, is a good friend of this country and she should not be a source of political bickering, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative leader said yesterday.
Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), a DPP party whip, discounted opposition allegations that Shaheen is in Taiwan for talks on US arms sales to Taipei.
Tsai called for the opposition not to inject domestic political struggles among parties into bilateral relations.
He urged the opposition not to besmirch Shaheen as an arms broker, saying that no one would be Taiwan's friend if an American citizen were groundlessly labeled as an arms broker simply because she or he made an effort to help improve bilateral ties.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus ridiculed President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) decoration of Shaheen with the "Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon" yesterday "in recognition of her contributions to promoting Taiwan-US ties during her time with the AIT."
Huang Teh-fu (
Huang said the DPP administration is bringing shame on itself if Shaheen was decorated this time because of her "true" role in arms sales.
The People First Party's next legislative whip, Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), said Shaheen is by no means an architect of bilateral cooperation.
Shaheen's stepping down reflects the fact that the US administration was not satisfied with her performance, Liu said, adding that Chen's decoration of Shaheen is tantamount to a slap in the face to the Bush administration.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
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