Two members of the US Congress have called on US President Barack Obama’s administration to resume diplomatic relations with Taiwan and to end its “one China” policy.
The largely symbolic move was made to mark the 34th anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) on April 10, 1979.
Representatives Michael McCaul and Robert Andrews submitted a “sense of Congress” resolution to the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, which has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The resolution says that Taiwan has established a vibrant and pluralistic democracy and that Taiwan has never been under the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China government.
It argues that the Shanghai Communique, which “acknowledges” that there is “one China and that Taiwan is part of China” was established without the consultation of Congress or the people of Taiwan.
The resolution says that the “one China” policy is “effectively obsolete” and does not reflect the obvious reality that Taiwan has been an independent and sovereign country for more than half a century.
“Taiwan has been a steadfast ally of the US and a responsible and compassionate member of the world community,” the resolution reads.
“The president should abandon the fundamentally flawed ‘One China Policy’ in favor of a more realistic ‘One China, One Taiwan Policy’ that recognizes Taiwan as a sovereign and independent country separate from the Communist regime in Beijing,” the resolution reads.
“The president should begin the process of resuming normal diplomatic relations with Taiwan,” it says.
“US officials should aggressively support Taiwan’s full participation in the United Nations and any other international organization of which the US is a member, and for which statehood is a requirement for membership,” it adds.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
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
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires