Admiral Dennis Blair, whom US President Barack Obama has chosen to be the US’ next director of national intelligence, is vigorously defending his record on Taiwan.
As head of Pacific Command from 1999 to 2002, Blair was head of the US official delegation that observed Taiwan’s Han Kuang series of military exercises and has a reputation for supporting Taiwan independence.
But following his confirmation hearings in the US Senate last week, Blair was challenged by Republican Senator Christopher Bond to answer a question in writing “for the record.”
Bond wrote to Blair: “A number of negative comments about United States policy toward Taiwan have been attributed to you in the past — I believe at one time, you referred to Taiwan as the ‘turd in the punchbowl of US-China relations.’”
The senator said that Blair was on the record as saying that the Taiwan Relations Act was great.
“So,” Bond said, “what is your view on US policy towards Taiwan?”
In a written reply just made public, Blair said: “It is absolutely incorrect that I ever referred to Taiwan itself as the ‘turd in the punchbowl of US-China relations.’ Whoever gave this account to the press was maliciously attempting to portray me as a supporter of China at the expense of Taiwan.
“I did in fact use the too-colorful phrase ‘tossing a turd in the punchbowl’ in a closed meeting in 2000, but the phrase referred to a specific action by a former Taiwanese government official that had been taken without consulting the United States and had caused a confrontation with Washington and the Chicoms.”
“I have never made negative comments about the United States policy towards Taiwan in the past. I have stated opinions about statements,” he said.
Blair’s office refused to comment further.
The admiral is expected to be confirmed soon.
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
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
AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN: The framework is a vital platform for sharing Taiwan’s expertise and forging new partnerships to address challenges, the groups said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and the representative offices of Australia, Canada and Japan in Taiwan yesterday issued a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF) and their hope that the partnership would be expanded. Ahead of the GCTF’s 10th anniversary on June 1, the joint statement was issued by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), AIT Director Raymond Greene, Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chief Representative Kazuyuki Katayama, Australian Office in Taipei Representative Robert Fergusson and Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Jim Nickel. Since 2015, more than 87
RSS