A former senior US official suggested Taiwan should work to strengthen its communication mechanism with high-ranking US officials, and not rely solely on the American Insititute in Taiwan (AIT) as the medium to convey messages to the US government, according to a Central News Agency (CNA) article yesterday.
That way, Washington can better understand the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and its efforts to promote such issues as the special arms procurement budget bill, former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said, according to CNA.
Armitage made the remarks during a meeting with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who was in Miami en route to Latin America. Aside from Armitage, Chen also received visits from a number of former high-ranking US officials during his transit in Miami.
According to the CNA report, Armitage said that part of the reason Taiwan-US relations were not so smooth was because the Bush administration did not know the DPP government nor the party's culture very well.
Because the US government had been dealing with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government in the past, it didn't understand that DPP officials mostly had a history of being activists, and are very different from KMT officials, Armitage was reported as saying during his meeting with Chen.
Given that the current Bush administration group of officials in charge of cross-strait affairs is new, Armitage suggested Taiwanese government officials, including national security staff members, should establish a diverse and frequent coordination system. Dependence on AIT as Taiwan's sole channel of communication would not be very helpful if Taiwan wanted to form closer ties with the US government.
He said that the Bush administration, immediately after taking office, passed the arms procurement case in 2001 in an attempt to stabilize cross-strait relations, because the was concerned about China's attitude toward Taiwan after the DPP administration came to power.
To expedite the passage of the arms procurement package in the Legislative Yuan, moving the items from the special budget into the general budget would be a good way, Armitage said.
Armitage stressed that the DPP government should explain its efforts to promote the arms procurement package to the US government, so that it understands DPP government's intention to maintain a peaceful cross-strait relationship.
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
RSS