Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had information he wanted to share with a visiting former US official earlier last week, but he did not feel comfortable doing so in the presence of Taiwanese government officials, the Taipei Times has learned.
Lee on Monday met with Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state during former US president George W. Bush’s first term in office, during the latter’s visit to Taiwan.
Prior to the meeting, Lee allegedly said that as some Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials would be present during their meeting, he would pass on a message to Armitage in the form of a letter. He allegedly said he could not trust some of the ministry officials and that his discussion would center on general topics like Japan.
As the body responsible for relations with current and retired officials from other countries, it is customary for the ministry to accompany delegations and provide transportation, as well as make arrangements for meetings with Taiwanese officials.
Armitage, who has retained some influence in Washington despite his retirement from government service, was heading a delegation of academics from the Project 2049 Institute, a US-based think tank.
A source close to the former US State Department official who accompanied him on his visit confirmed to the Taipei Times on Wednesday that Lee had given him a letter. The source, who was privy to the contents of the letter — which consisted of a few pages — said it touched on the former president’s apprehensions about the future of Taiwan and the direction of cross-strait talks under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.
In one section of his missive, Lee, who was expelled from the KMT in 2001 for his pro-independence views, reportedly says that if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) were re-elected next year, the future of Taiwan as an independent country would be very much in doubt.
Armitage left Taiwan on Wednesday while the rest of his delegation remained in Taiwan for further meetings.
The Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office has listed six people as suspects in a judicial investigation into a fatal train crash on Friday last week. Fifty people were killed and more than 200 were injured when the Taroko Express No. 408 train slammed into a crane truck that had slid onto the tracks near the entrance of Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien’s Sioulin Township (秀林). The office also summoned six officials at the Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) Hualien Engineering Section for questioning about alleged illegal business operations and unsafe work conditions by Yi Hsiang Industry Co and Tung Hsin Construction Co, the two
SUPPORTING DEMOCRACY IN ASIA: Twitter aims to ‘play a unique role in enabling the public conversation around important social movements,’ the US company said Twitter has thrown its support behind the “Milk Tea Alliance” of democracy movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, defying China at a time when Beijing is punishing Western companies for commenting on what it considers internal matters. The social media company yesterday prominently displayed flags of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Myanmar and Thailand while unveiling an emoji to support democracy advocates in places that have in the past few years seen historic protests and share a love for the beverage. The emoji will automatically show up when users post the #MilkTeaAlliance hashtag, which was posted been 11 million times
The navy’s new 10,600-tonne warship is on Tuesday to be christened the ROCN Yushan (玉山), as the nation’s indigenous shipbuilding program reaches a milestone, sources said yesterday. The vessel, previously referred to as the “new landing platform dock,” was at a shipyard with its name freshly painted on the hull with the number 1401, the Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported yesterday, citing an unnamed observer. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), a member of the legislature’s National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, confirmed the report in a Facebook post. The NT$4.635 billion (US$163 million) ship is designed
TEMPERED EXPECTATIONS: Although analysts welcomed the updated guidance from Washington, Taipei should push back on ‘unnecessary’ restrictions, they said New US guidelines expanding official contacts with Taiwan might be a positive step, but Taipei should still try to break down limits on bilateral interactions that stem from Washington’s “one China” policy, foreign affairs analysts said on Saturday. On Friday, the US Department of State announced that it had issued new guidelines to “liberalize” government contacts with Taiwan, which it said were designed to “encourage engagement ... that reflects our deepening unofficial relationship.” Although not made public, the guidelines would reportedly allow US officials to meet with their Taiwanese counterparts in US federal buildings and at Taiwanese representative offices in the US,
RSS