More than a score of US Congress members attended a Wednesday night reception to welcome Democratic Progressive Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to Capitol Hill.
Veteran observers of the US-Taiwan scene said that it was the most enthusiastic and warm reception they could remember for a Taiwanese visitor.
“The atmosphere was utterly new, everyone was talking about how the attitudes in Washington have completely changed,” one guest said.
Photo: Chen Hui-ping, Taipei Times
“Dr Tsai had a look of confidence and satisfaction — congressmen and women were bubbling,” he added.
Despite a busy agenda and on-going vote in the US House of Representatives, members lined up to shake Tsai’s hand and complement her on becoming the DPP’s presidential candidate for the January elections.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and ranking member Eliot Engel both made short speeches saying how pleased they were to see Tsai in Washington.
While it was not clear exactly how many members actually came to the reception — 16 made public remarks — more than 30 had said they planned to be there.
Former House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen praised Tsai and her “quest to keep Taiwan free.”
The freedom of Taiwan had been continuously threatened for decades by “an oppressive and brutal” communist regime in China, Ros-Lehtinen said.
“China is making its hegemonic ambitions crystal clear as it rapidly ramps up its military spending, creates new islands in the South China Sea, and attempts to assert dominance in the region,” she said.
“We in the United States need to do more to support our ally Taiwan and make sure it is able to resist any type of Chinese aggression or coercion,” she added.
Ros-Lehtinen presented Tsai with a miniature of the Statue of Freedom that stands atop the US Capitol’s dome.
The reception was held in a congressional chamber provided by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and it was hosted by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs.
“Taiwanese Americans are eternally grateful for the support from members of Congress who have given us the hope that we will never walk alone even in the darkest night,” association president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said.
He said that like US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Taiwanese Americans had a dream.
“Our dream is that Taiwan can move out of the international isolation imposed on it by the outdated One China policy and be accepted as a full and equal member in the international community,” Kao said.
“Taiwan is a free and democratic nation state and should be treated as a normal country like all other countries,” he said. “Together we work to enhance US-Taiwan relations, to sustain Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, and to ensure that the people on the island have a free choice on their future.”
“We believe that a free and democratic Taiwan will enhance regional stability and be in the best interests of the US,” he said.
In a short address, Tsai thanked the US Congress for all of its support and promised that if she was elected she would work tirelessly to enhance relations with the US.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS