The US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday approved legislation requiring US President Barack Obama to develop a strategy to win observer status for Taiwan in the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
The bill must now go before the House for approval and is expected to then go directly to the White House because it has bipartisan backing and is supported by the executive branch.
“Passing today’s important legislation helps bring Taiwan closer to observer status with Interpol,” House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce said.
“Despite being a major US trade partner, Taiwan has to rely on delayed, second-hand information about international criminals and global criminal activities,” Royce said.
He said that it made Taiwan “needlessly vulnerable” to criminals.
“Today’s bipartisan legislation elevating Taiwan’s standing is a big step toward improving everyone’s security,” he said.
The bill was originally introduced by US Representative Matt Salmon, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
White House sources say that the Obama administration is ready to submit an official request to Interpol for Taiwan to be given observer status and to encourage other Interpol members to support the move.
Full membership is not possible because statehood is a prerequisite and Beijing objects.
Taiwan was a full member of Interpol from 1964 until 1984, when China applied for membership.
“Today’s vote is another example of Chairman Royce’s efforts to expand Taiwan’s role in the international community and improve the safety and ease of travel for people traveling to and from Taiwan,” a press release issued by the committee said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching