Representative to the US David Lee (
However, in his monthly "tea party" press conference with the Taiwanese press corps in Washington, Lee did not say how such a change could occur.
He did say that from Taiwan's point of view, any policy changes should come about through a "consensus-building process between the government and the people."
Lee told the Taipei Times after the press conference that he had not heard from the US government about Chad's decision to recognize Beijing at Taipei's expense, and that he had not contacted US officials about the development.
However, in the past, the US has advised him to beware of China's intent to isolate Taiwan.
"Over the past three years, the US has told me and several of my senior colleagues that we have to be aware of the trends and the policies of the PRC [People's Republic of China] on strangulating Taiwan's international space," Lee said.
"And the US has suggested that we do some thinking about how to cope with this. I think this is a decision that is up to the Taiwan people to decide. It is not something the US can decide for us," he said.
Questioned about Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang's (黃志芳) handling of the Chad switch, Lee came to Huang's defense, and said he did not want to try to "second-guess" the ministry's actions.
Based on his long diplomatic experience and his stint as deputy foreign minister, in which he handled similar cases, Lee said, "I can hardly imagine that if we put anyone else aside from Minister Huang [in the position], we would have different results."
China will continue to do whatever it can to take advantage of Taiwan, Lee said.
"This cutthroat competition will go on as long as the leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait do not change their mindset," Lee said.
"I do not see the possibility that the Beijing leadership will change their mindset on this issue. And with regard to Taipei, since we are a democratic country, if we do decide to change the policies or the mindset, we need a consensus-building process between the government and the people," he said.
Meanwhile, analysts in Taipei said yesterday that China's merciless campaign to reduce Taiwan's diplomatic allies and its gradual increase of missiles targeted at Taiwan were solid proof it was undermining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
In a forum held by Taiwan Thinktank on the country's external relations in the wake of Chad's decision to shift diplomatic recognition to China, Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), a political science professor from Soochow University, said that it was an incremental change in the cross-strait status quo by China.
"What China is doing is to essentialize the `one China' principle -- that is to make Taiwan a non-sovereign country and a part of China," Lo said.
Chad's decision to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing just before Premier Su Tseng-chang (
The timing of the Chad mishap, which came immediately after the Cabinet's economic conference aimed at normalizing cross-strait economic relations, meant that Beijing does not expect Su would be able to improve ties, and doesn't want to give any credit to the Democratic Progressive Party government before the next presidential election in 2008, Lo said.
Lin Cheng-yi (
Taipei had only 22 allies when the Republic of China withdrew from the UN in 1971.
Lin urged the government to thoroughly investigate the reasons for the loss of each ally and take responsibility for any policy errors it might have made as well as avoid similar mistakes.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it