The US has cautiously welcomed Monday’s meeting between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), but has refused to comment on any details.
“We welcome steps on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to reduce tensions and improve cross-strait relations,” acting US deputy Department of State spokesperson Jeff Rathke said.
He had been asked directly for US government reaction to “these highest-level talks between cross-strait political parties.”
Rathke said the US encouraged authorities in Beijing and Taipei to continue their constructive dialogue, “which we believe has led to significant improvements in the cross-strait relationship.”
He said that the “content and the pace and the scope” of interactions should be acceptable to people on both sides of the Strait, “but we’ll leave those details to the people participating in those talks.”
Asked if the US supported Taiwan’s bid to join China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Rathke said he had no comment about anyone wanting to participate in the proposed institution.
“The US view on the AIIB has been made quite clear,” he said.
“We consider it important that high standards of transparency be part of the AIIB’s approach,” Rathke added. “The president commented on this just last week, so I don’t have anything to add to that.”
Noting that Xi had commented that cross-strait relations had reached a new and important point, a reporter asked Rathke if the US had the same view.
“I’m not going to get into characterizing. We’ve seen progress and we welcome that and we encourage continued dialogue,” Rathke said.
He was asked if the US thought the so-called “1992 consensus” should act as a “point of reference” for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) “so that it would be able to open its own dialogue with the mainland — particularly when the DPP chair is to visit the US.”
Rathke said that he would not comment on how such issues were approached within Taiwan, adding: “I think our support for improved cross-strait relations is clear.”
The so-called “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that both sides acknowledge that there is “one China,” with both having their own interpretation of what “China” means. Former KMT lawmaker Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 said he made up the term in 2000, when he was head of the Mainland Affairs Council.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is expected to visit Washington next month for a series of high-level meetings.
Tsai has said her basic principle toward cross-strait relations would be “maintaining the ‘status quo’” and that she will not provoke “contradictions, confrontations or conflicts.”
In an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, Alan Romberg, director of the East Asia program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the Xi-Chu meeting had helped to re-establish KMT-CCP links at the top, and to “consolidate the conceptual framework underlying future cooperation.”
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS