When US President Barack Obama visits Beijing later this month, he should insist that China dismantle the 1,600 missiles it has targeted at Taiwan, the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) said.
The group is appealing to Obama to “reaffirm America’s support for freedom, democracy and human rights in Taiwan.”
Obama is attending the APEC summit and is scheduled to hold private bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at which Taiwan is thought certain to be discussed.
“We understand that in order to resolve many of the world’s major problems, the US needs to engage China, but the fact is that China has not acted as a responsible stakeholder,” FAPA president Mark Kao (高龍榮) wrote in a letter to the White House.
Kao said that China is causing increasing tension in the South China Sea and East China Sea, and through its mishandling of the democratic developments in Hong Kong.
“Against this background, we emphasize that ‘engagement’ should not be done at the expense of America’s core values: freedom, democracy and human rights, as exemplified by Taiwan,” Kao said.
FAPA, with 54 chapters across the US, has strong bipartisan support in the US Congress.
Kao says in the letter that the US president should remind the Chinese leadership that it is a “core interest” of the US that the future of Taiwan be resolved peacefully and with the express consent of the people of Taiwan.
Not only should Obama insist on the dismantling of the missiles, he should also urge Beijing to renounce the threat of use of force against Taiwan, Kao said.
To safeguard Taiwan and its future, the US needs to more fully embrace its freedom and democracy, Kao said.
“We believe this is the best way to maintain peace and stability in East Asia, and in the best interests of the US,” Kao said.
The letter said that for the past four decades, the US has clung to an outdated “one China” policy that has left Taiwan dangling in international isolation.
“Taiwan has transformed itself into a vibrant democracy and as we saw with the Sunflower movement this spring, the people of Taiwan don’t want to be pushed into an unwelcome embrace with China,” Kao said. “We therefore urge you to move towards a ‘One Taiwan, One China’ policy that warmly welcomes Taiwan as a full and equal member of the international community.”
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS