Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) 11-day visit to the US has been successful in consolidating Washington’s support of the party and relaying the party’s policies on various fronts in the US, DPP Representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday after returning to Taiwan.
“We’re very happy with what we’ve achieved in Washington, where we met the people we wanted to meet and engaged in comprehensive discussions covering a wide range of topics,” Wu said at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning.
Wu and the DPP delegation had flown to Taipei from Vancouver, Canada, the last stop of the party’s North America visit. Su is scheduled to return today.
Su has performed well in his first US visit since assuming the chairmanship in May last year, with a speech he gave in English at a forum co-hosted by the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies being the most impressive part of his visit, Wu said.
In the speech, Su highlighted the “three Rs” of the party: rebalancing DPP-US ties, reconciling cross-strait relations and responsibility to safeguard Taiwan’s democracy.
The delegation was able to put forth the DPP’s policy toward cross-strait affairs and foreign affairs in their meetings with officials of US President Barack Obama’s administration, members of US Congress and academics from various thinktanks, said Wu, who also serves as the director of the DPP’s Policy Research Committee.
The attendance of heavyweight US politicians, including officials from the American Institute in Taiwan, at the inauguration of the DPP’s Representative Office in Washington further reflected the strong bilateral relationship and trust between the party and the US, Wu said.
Washington responded positively to the DPP’s cross-strait and defense policies after Su offered the party’s support for promoting closer engagement with China, in particular after the establishment of the DPP China Affairs Committee, Wu said, adding that the US also welcomed the party’s emphasis on Taiwan’s national defense in the blue paper it released earlier this month.
Wu said Su was pleased with the warm reception the delegation received from the Taiwanese expat community throughout their trip, which included stops in Los Angeles, New York and Houston, as well as Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
The trip marked Su’s third overseas visit this year, amid efforts to extend the DPP’s international reach. The chairman in February visited Japan, where he initiated a democratic alliance between Asia-Pacific countries, and traveled to Singapore in April.
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