The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday protested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the party’s exclusion from the itinerary of a visiting US congressional delegation.
“Since the ministry did not inform the DPP of the visit, the DPP could not arrange a meeting between the delegation and DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌),” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
The ministry told the party it was a careless mistake and vowed that it would not happen again, Lin said.
According to a press release from the ministry, US Senator James Inhofe, who is co-chair of the US Senate Taiwan Caucus, led a 19-member delegation, including Senator John Boozman and US representatives Vern Buchanan, Erik Paulsen and Steve Pearce, on a visit to Taiwan on Tuesday and yesterday.
The delegation met President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), National Security Council Secretary-General Jason Yuan (袁健生) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
This was not the first time the DPP has made such complaint.
Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), executive director of the DPP’s Policy Research Committee and the party’s US representative, has recently mentioned several similar incidents.
Wu, who served as Taiwan’s representative to the US during the DPP administration, said the DPP administration always made sure that US delegations met with the then-opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) so that “visitors are able to listen to voices from both sides.”
Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), director of the DPP’s Department of International Affairs, said the party learned of the visit from a newspaper report and has begun to inquire about future visits “so that we won’t be left out again.”
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard