The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI), a think tank that aims to protect Taiwanese democracy and national security by strengthening Taiwan-US relations, on Wednesday held an event at its headquarters in Washington to mark its inauguration.
GTI is the first US-based think tank dedicated to Taiwanese interests; its headquarters is in Dupont Circle, a neighborhood known for its heavy presence of embassies and prestigious think tanks.
The event was attended by almost 100 Taiwanese-Americans, research institute experts, diplomats and politicians.
Among the attendees were US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of the Republican Party and US Representative Grace Meng of the Democratic Party; New Party Power (NPP) Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐); Taiwan’s Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰); former US senior official to APEC Robert Wang; US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) senior vice president for Asia Michael Green; Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia and director of the China Power Project at the CSIS; and Heritage Foundation director of Asian studies Walter Lohman.
GTI chairman Robert Lai (賴義雄) said the institute’s mission is to develop leaders and advocates for a strong Taiwan-US relationship for the next generation.
Kao said GTI and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US have the same aims, and he looked forward to the two working together to promote Taiwan in the international community, and to improving and strengthening Taiwan-US relations, according to the Central News Agency.
Ros-Lehtinen said the US must remain committed to the Six Assurances — a series of guarantees for Taiwanese security against Chinese claims — as the foundation of US-Taiwan relations.
GTI said it would hold its first academic conference on Thursday next week. The conference is to be chaired by former American Institute in Taiwan deputy director David Keegan and will look at issues such as whether the US needs to change course on its Taiwanese policy that was set out in 1994.
Sources who attended the event said that US lawmakers are expected to propose a bill which would lift restrictions barring high-ranking Taiwanese officials from visiting Washington and US military commanders from visiting Taiwan.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS