US assistance in helping Taiwan acquire defensive weapons is key to the development of stable cross-strait ties, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said on Thursday.
Lai made the comments at a meeting with visiting US Representative and co-chair of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus Phil Gingrey, a statement said.
The statement, released by the MAC on Friday, quoted Lai as saying that relations between Taiwan and China were improving, describing this as a historic moment.
Taiwan and China should continue to build mutual trust through talks and lay the foundation for peace, she said.
Lai also said that increasing interaction between the populations of Taiwan and China would strengthen Taiwanese identity.
Lai said the two sides should respect each other’s existence in the international arena and treat each other with equality and dignity.
For his part, Gingrey said Taiwan should continue to apply to join international organizations including the UN, to which Lai responded that the people of Taiwan had a right to participate in the international community in a dignified manner.
China, which has blocked Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, should be able to understand how the Taiwanese public feels, Lai said.
Gingrey arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday for a four-day visit. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) described him as one of Taiwan’s most faithful friends in Congress.
Gingrey endorsed a House of Representatives resolution that marked the 30th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act. The resolution reiterates the principles in the Taiwan Relations Act, including providing Taiwan with defensive weapons.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS