US Department of State spokeswoman Marie Harf on Monday said Washington supports Taiwan’s “vibrant democracy” and how it allows “robust political dialogue.”
Harf made the remarks in response to a question about the student-led demonstrations in Taipei against the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement with China.
“The agreement on cross-strait trade in services is an issue for Taiwan to decide,” she said. “We hope that the discussion can be conducted peacefully and civilly.”
“We have welcomed steps taken by both sides on the Taiwan Strait to reduce tensions and improve relations between Taipei and Beijing,” she said. “We’d encourage them to continue this constructive dialogue and again, the specific agreement is really an issue for them to decide.”
Asked if the US was offering any counsel or advice to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government on how to deal with the demonstrators, Harf said that to her knowledge, that was not the case.
Harf also said she had not heard any concern expressed within US President Barack Obama’s the administration that the protests may spread and destabilize Taiwan.
The department’s statement came as the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) called on the US government and Congress to “express deep concern” about the police response to the protests.
FAPA, which represents many Taiwanese-American organizations, asked Washington to urge Taipei “to exercise the utmost restraint in using police force, in order to prevent further bloodshed and deeper polarization of Taiwan’s society.”
In a message to the White House and Congress, FAPA said: “The procedures followed by the Ma government to push the [cross-strait] service trade agreement through were undemocratic and not transparent. The autonomy of the legislature and the legislative process negotiated by the political parties should be respected as befits Taiwan’s democracy.”
US publications have also commented on the trade pact protests and the government’s reaction.
“The more lasting damage may be across the [Taiwan] Strait, where Chinese authorities are surely looking at this mess and smirking smugly,” Fortune Magazine said.
A Georgetown University blog urged US policymakers to take “seriously” claims that the pact will raise China’s influence over Taipei.
“The US must adopt and strictly enforce a zero-tolerance policy toward Chinese intervention in Taiwan,” the blog said. “We can’t afford to let Taiwan become the next Crimea. China must be appraised that messing with Taiwan equates to messing with America.”
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift