Nine members of the US Congress have issued statements or certificates congratulating the Republic of China on its 102nd National Day, with some saying that Taipei and Washington should sign a bilateral investment agreement (BIA) soon, given Taiwan’s importance to the US in the Asia-Pacific region.
Some Congress members also proposed that Taiwan be included in the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and that the two countries conduct more mutual visits by Cabinet members.
Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) expressed his gratitude to the Congress members for their congratulations and their support on important issues related to Taiwan-US ties a time when the Congress and the White House are busy dealing with a domestic budget crisis and debt ceiling issues.
According to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US, 25 Congress members have extended National Day congratulations to Taiwan and expressed support for the nation’s participation in the TPP, as well as the signing of a BIA with the US.
Among the 25 were Robert Menendez, the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and US House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Royce said in his statement that the US-Taiwan relationship is the cornerstone of Washington’s foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region and that he is excited that as a direct result of bipartisan efforts in Congress, Taiwan was finally invited to participate in the International Civil Aviation Organization this year.
“The US enjoys a very positive and productive economic relationship with Taiwan... I urge the [US] Administration to quickly finish the ongoing US-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement negotiations and move on to a broader, more comprehensive Bilateral Investment Agreement with Taiwan,” Royce said in the statement.
Some members of Congress added that since Taiwan plays an important role in the world and is a WTO and APEC member, it should be included in the TPP.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS