The US should sell Taiwan the weapons it requires to deter Chinese aggression, former National Security Council deputy secretary-general Parris Chang (張旭成) said on Wednesday in Washington.
“Taiwan has lots of defense needs in the face of the growing threat from China,” he told a roundtable discussion hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Chang was part of a delegation of senior former officials from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) visiting the US for talks with members of the US Congress, think tanks and foreign policy experts.
“We have heard lots of talk about US concerns over Taiwan’s defense needs, but we need action,” Chang said.
He said it is important for the US to know that China is not its friend.
Chang called for robust US-Taiwan defense cooperation so that Taiwan “can truly be free from intimidation.”
He pleaded for the administration of US President Barack Obama to sell Taiwan advanced fighter jets, diesel-electric submarines and improved missile technology.
Chang also urged Washington to improve and increase high-level military dialogue between the two nations.
Chang said he acknowledges that the US has stopped making diesel-electric submarines, but added: “Where there is a will, there is a way.”
He said the US could buy submarines from Japan, upgrade them, equip them with new systems and then sell them to Taiwan.
It would take a decade for Taiwan to build its own submarines, while going the Japan route might only take four years, Chang said.
“We really need this deterrent weapon and we hope our message will get to the [US President Barack Obama’s] administration, because this is the one thing that would show the US really cares, is trying to help and is not just talking,” he said.
Chang said the delegation, which includes former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and former minister of national defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲), has already talked with members of the US Congress, urging them to attend the inauguration of president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
“We would like to see the Obama administration send a high-ranking delegation to attend the inauguration — it would mean a great deal to Taiwan,” he said.
Chang said that Taiwan was facing “considerable pressure” from China in the wake of Tsai’s election.
“The Chinese want her to say in her inaugural speech that she will accept the so-called ‘1992 consensus’ and will accept the ‘one China’ principle — this I am sure she will not do,” he said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS