President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday received Project 2049 Institute chairman Randall Schriver, a former US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, at the Presidential Office in Taipei and thanked him for facilitating the sale of F-16V jets to Taiwan.
Taiwan is Schriver’s “first stop” abroad since he left his post in December last year, Tsai said.
During his tenure as a top US Department of State official, Schriver worked to enhance the Taiwan-US security relationship, and valued Taiwan’s role and position in the Indo-Pacific region, she said.
Photo: CNA
“I would like to take this opportunity to especially thank chairman Schriver for his support and contribution to Taiwan’s democracy, freedom and security,” Tsai said.
In the Jan. 11 presidential election, Taiwanese once again showed their commitment to democratic values, she said.
Taiwan’s democratic defense mechanisms would continue to be strengthened, Tsai said, adding that Taipei hoped to work with the US and other like-minded countries toward “peace, stability and prosperity” in the Indo-Pacific region.
Global public health and economies worldwide have been severely affected by an outbreak of COVID-19 in China, she said.
Taiwan is a member of the global community, she said, adding that “disease knows no borders.”
Tsai thanked Washington, the US Congress and Americans for their support and assistance regarding Taiwan’s participation in the WHO.
Taiwan is willing and able to contribute more to the international community, whether it comes to experience in preventing epidemics, healthcare capabilities or even in the peace, stability and prosperity of the overall region, she said.
Taiwan should not be excluded from conversations because of political reasons, she added.
Tsai said that she looked forward to Schriver providing Taiwan with support and advice, and working together for the development of Taiwan-US relations.
Speaking at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei on Wednesday, Schriver said that the US is in “an era of strategic competition with China.”
“I think at the most fundamental level, we are competing in order to maintain an advantage and an edge so that we can continue to promote the qualities and characteristics of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Schriver said.
“Our competition is not for geography,” he said. “It’s not for territory or water or for control. In fact, the United States has no ambition in the Indo-Pacific commons other than to ensure that they remain free and open.”
“Taiwan’s ability to protect itself, to protect its sovereignty, to deal with the emerging challenges of China is really the linchpin to security throughout the Indo-Pacific,” Schriver said. “So our partnership with Taiwan is very focused on helping Taiwan implement its own strategy.”
“Taiwan is in its own way building out its own relationships with other countries who share the same vision beyond the United States,” he said.
“So the United States, I think, can also be a bridge in helping Taiwan strengthen its relations with other key actors in the region,” he added.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern