US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state reaffirmed the US’ commitment to Taiwan based on the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) and the “six assurances” during a US Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
“We’ve made an important commitment to Taiwan,” through the TRA and the “six assurances,” and such commitments should be reaffirmed, former Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson said in response to questions from US Senator Cory Gardner regarding the incoming administration’s position on Taiwan and the “one China” policy.
“I think it’s important that Taiwan knows we’re going to live up to the commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act and the six issues accord,” he added.
“That in itself is a message,” he said, adding that the US should recognize the “balancing forces” in its relationship with China that need to be dealt with.
Asked about the future administration’s position on the “one China” policy, Tillerson said he was not aware of “any plans to alter the ‘one China’ position.”
Tillerson’s remarks came after Trump said in an interview with Fox News last month that he saw no reason the US should continue abiding by the “one China” policy unless Beijing is prepared to enter into some kind of bargain.
His remarks have triggered serious concerns in China.
The TRA was enacted in 1979 to maintain commercial, cultural and other unofficial relations between Taiwan and the US after Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
The TRA also requires the US to provide Taiwan with “arms of a defensive character.”
The “six assurances” given to Taiwan in 1982 by then-US president Ronald Reagan include US pledges not to set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan, not to hold prior consultations with China regarding arms sales to Taiwan, and not to play a mediation role between Taiwan and China.
The other three assurances are that the US will not revise the TRA, alter its position regarding Taiwan’s sovereignty, or pressure Taiwan to enter into negotiations with China.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it welcomes and thanks the US’ promise regarding Taiwan’s security, adding that Tillerson’s remarks show that the incoming Trump administration understands the importance of the Taiwan-US relationship for the stability and peace in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.
The ministry added that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has been maintaining mutual trust with the US since her inauguration in May last year based on the principle of “steady and low-key” handling of the relationship between the two countries.
The ministry said that it would maintain close communication with the future Trump administration.
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:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater