The next eight months are “going to be bumpy” for President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers said.
Tsai, who took office yesterday, inherits a difficult hand when it comes to national defense, he said.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, he said Tsai would focus on developing Taiwan’s domestic defense industry in an attempt to counteract the poor state of US arms sales commitment to the nation.
“Playing catchup on defense after the past eight years of inattention is likely to expose her to accusations that she is provoking China,” Hammond-Chambers said.
He said Tsai’s national security team would engage with the administration of US President Barack Obama this summer and should be clear about what it wants from its relationship with the US.
“Taiwan needs to accept the risk of friction if it makes big requests, such as material support for the design and production of submarines, new fighter trainers and a new front-line fighter,” he said.
According to Hammond-Chambers, after years of “lackluster support” in arms sales to Taiwan, the Obama administration is likely to stall.
“That will put further weight on the outcome of the US presidential election and the willingness of the next US president to uphold the Taiwan Relations Act,” he said.
Hammond-Chambers said there is much that Tsai could achieve unilaterally without relying on tepid US support while ignoring Chinese belligerence, but she should brace herself for a rough start with Beijing.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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