SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Relations with India are promising amid rising pro-Taiwan sentiment in the South Asian nation, Minister Without Portfolio John Deng said
Boosting exchanges with India would be prioritized in the government’s New Southbound Policy, as the US is actively engaging India in its Indo-Pacific strategy to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a Cabinet official said on Saturday. The New Southbound Policy covers 18 nations: the 10 ASEAN members, six South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand. Among South and Southeast Asian countries, India is the only one that dares voice its opposition to China, and it is an important actor in the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy, which has prompted the Executive Yuan to pay more attention to the country in its regional and diplomatic work, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Many Indian graduates in the areas of science and technology have visited Taiwan for internships or work, with many engineers working in Taiwan’s science parks, the official said, adding that Taiwan and India could further advance talent exchanges in related areas. However, bilateral interactions this year have been limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as the outbreak in India remains severe, the official said. This year’s planned exhibition on Taiwan-India exchanges under the New Southbound Policy has been transformed into a virtual event and delayed until Dec. 16 to 18, the official added. India-China relations have been tense since soldiers from the two sides clashed along the Line of Actual Control in May. Repeated attempts by the Chinese embassy in New Delhi to intervene with the Indian media, including a demand that they respect Beijing’s “one China principle” when covering Taiwan’s Double Ten National Day celebrations, have backfired. Taiwan-India ties are promising, said Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), who manages the New Southbound Policy, when asked about an upsurge of anti-China and pro-Taiwan sentiment in India. Asked about the Cabinet official’s remark that India ties would be prioritized, Deng said that every country
Just a week before next month’s US presidential election, two of US President Donald Trump’s top national security aides are to visit India for meetings focused largely on countering China’s growing global influence. As the bitter race between Trump and former US vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s candidate, winds down, the talks this week in New Delhi aim to reinforce the US president’s anti-China campaign message. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper are to meet their Indian counterparts for strategic and security talks tomorrow, after which Pompeo is to travel on to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia. All of them are contending with a tug-of-war between Washington and Beijing that has intensified as Trump seeks to paint Biden as weak on China. Trump has played up his friendship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his re-election bid, but might have set his case back with an off-the-cuff remark about climate change at his debate with Biden on Thursday. “Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia. Look at India, it’s filthy. The air is filthy,” he said, defending his decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Whether offense would be taken by the Indians or whether it would affect Pompeo and Esper’s mission is not clear. Yet, regardless of election considerations, it is a critical time in the US-India relationship as China looms large over what Washington has labeled the Indo-Pacific region. Heightened border tensions between New Delhi and Beijing have only added to Chinese-US animosity that has been fueled by disputes over Taiwan, the COVID-19 pandemic, trade, technology, Tibet, Hong Kong, human rights, and disputes between China and its smaller neighbors in the South China Sea. Those competing maritime and territorial claims would figure prominently at Pompeo’s last stop in
Samsung Electronics Co chairman Lee Kun-hee, who transformed the South Korean firm into a global tech titan, died at the age of 78 yesterday, the company said. Under Lee’s leadership, Samsung rose to become the world’s largest producer of smartphones and memory chips, and the firm’s overall turnover today is equivalent to one-fifth of South Korea’s GDP. Samsung’s meteoric rise helped make Lee South Korea’s richest and most powerful industrialist. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Kun-hee Lee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics,” the company said in a statement. “Chairman Lee was a true visionary who transformed Samsung into the world-leading innovator and industrial powerhouse from a local business,” the firm said. “His legacy will be everlasting.” Samsung is by far the biggest of the chaebols that dominate business in South Korea. They drove the nation’s transformation from a war-ravaged ruin to the world’s 12th-largest economy, but nowadays are accused of murky political ties and stifling competition — with Lee himself twice convicted of criminal offenses, in one case bribing a president. When Lee inherited the chairmanship of the Samsung group in 1987 — founded by his father as a fish and fruit exporter — it was already the country’s largest conglomerate, with operations ranging from consumer electronics to construction. However, it was seen as a shoddy producer of cheap, low-quality products. “Let’s change everything except our wives and kids,” Lee said in 1993. The company gathered up and burnt all 150,000 mobile phones it had in stock, paving the way for the rebirth of the highly successful “Anycall” handset. With Lee at the helm, Samsung became a global behemoth: By the time he suffered a heart attack in 2014, it was the world’s biggest maker of smartphones and memory chips, and a major player in semiconductors and LCDs. Lee rarely spoke to the media, but was closely
An international treaty banning nuclear weapons has been ratified by a 50th country, the UN said, allowing the “historic” text to enter into force after 90 days. While nuclear powers have not signed up to the treaty, advocates who have pushed for its enactment hold out hope that it would nonetheless prove to be more than symbolic and have a gradual deterrent effect. Honduras was the 50th country to ratify. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “the culmination of a worldwide movement to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons,” according to a statement from his spokesman on Saturday. “It represents a meaningful commitment towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, which remains the highest disarmament priority of the United Nations,” the statement said. Non-governmental organizations also welcomed the news, including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a coalition that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its key role in bringing the treaty to fruition. “Honduras just ratified the Treaty as the 50th state, triggering entry into force and making history,” ICAN said on Twitter. Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement: “Today is a victory for humanity, and a promise of a safer future.” The 75th anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, marked in August, saw a wave of countries ratify the treaty, which would enter into force on Jan. 22, the UN said. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons — which bans the use, development, production, testing, stationing, stockpiling and threat of use of such weapons — was adopted by the UN General Assembly in July 2017 with the approval of 122 countries. Eighty-four states have since signed it, though not all have ratified the text. The clutch of nuclear-armed states, including the US, the UK, France,
COMPENSATION DENIED: Locals and environmentalists cheered the news, but were divided on how to proceed, with some suggesting that the structure be demolished
An arbitration tribunal on Friday ordered the Taitung County Government to pay NT$629 million (US$21.75 million) to Miramar Resort Hotel Co (美麗灣公司) to take ownership of the company’s coastal resort as locals and environmental groups claimed partial victory in their more than a decade-long fight against the build-operate-transfer (BOT) project. Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴) at a news conference yesterday called the ruling fair and reasonable. The tribunal saw fit to return the coastal site to Taitung residents, Yao said. The resort was built on a beach at Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣) in the county’s Beinan Township (卑南). The payment is about half the NT$1.219 billion Miramar had demanded in compensation from the county government when it filed for arbitration in August 2018, in accordance with the Arbitration Act (仲裁法). Yao said the tribunal ruled that the county government had the legal authority to order the construction be halted in 2012 and that it had not contravened the original BOT agreement, as the situation was caused by “force majeure circumstances” and other uncontrollable factors. The firm fought numerous legal battles against the county government, as well as a coalition of Aborigines and environmental groups. Its executives said they filed for arbitration based on the BOT agreement signed in 2004 to build and operate the resort for 50 years before turning it over to the county government. They said they sought compensation due to repeated delays in construction caused by demands to undergo environmental impact assessment (EIA) and other procedural setbacks, and financial losses resulting from not being able to operate the resort after completing its construction. However, the tribunal ruled that the county government does not need to pay compensation, because the company undertook all of the phases of the project on its own volition, from the planning, design, construction and expansion to covering additional beach
The US Coast Guard (USCG) is basing Enhanced Response Cutters in the western Pacific for maritime security missions, the US national security adviser said on Friday, citing illegal fishing and harassment of vessels by China. US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien in a statement said that the coast guard also planned to evaluate next fiscal year the feasibility of basing Fast Response Cutters in American Samoa in the South Pacific. The statement described the US as a Pacific power and added that China’s “illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and harassment of vessels operating in the exclusive economic zones of other countries in the Indo-Pacific threatens our sovereignty, as well as the sovereignty of our Pacific neighbors and endangers regional stability.” It said US efforts, including by the coast guard, were “critical to countering these destabilizing and malign actions.” “To that end, the USCG is strategically homeporting significantly enhanced Fast Response Cutters ... in the western Pacific,” the statement said, without detailing where the vessels would be based or how many were involved. O’Brien said the new-generation coast guard vessels would conduct maritime security missions, such as fisheries patrols, and enhance maritime-domain awareness and enforcement efforts in collaboration with “regional partners who have limited offshore surveillance and enforcement capacity.” “Enhancing the presence of the USCG in the Indo-Pacific ensures the United States will remain the maritime partner of choice in the region,” the statement said. The coast guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement, which came just ahead of a planned visit to Asia by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo led a meeting of foreign ministers from India, Japan and Australia this month in Tokyo, a grouping Washington hopes to develop as a bulwark against China’s growing assertiveness and extensive maritime claims in the region, including to most of the strategic
PRUDENCE: Palau has only one hospital, which cannot treat critical patients, and the country’s medical system could be quickly overwhelmed in the event of an outbreak
A plan to create a travel bubble between Taiwan and Palau has been postponed because the Pacific ally decided not to relax quarantine rules for Taiwanese travelers, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The postponement was made after Palau took into account its epidemic prevention capacity and that the northern hemisphere is entering winter, when COVID-19 infections could surge, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman. Earlier in the day, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said that due to limited medical care capacity in Palau, the country would still require Taiwanese visitors to undergo seven days of quarantine upon arrival. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and related agencies are ready for a travel bubble, but Palau’s healthcare sector is worried that if an outbreak occurred following an opening, its limited resources would be unable to cope, Chen said. The two countries had been holding talks on the possibility of forming a travel bubble to revive their tourism industries amid the COVID-19 pandemic by allowing each side to open its border for its citizens to travel to the other in tour groups. As both sides’ populations are considered extremely low-risk in terms of COVID-19 infection, it was considered safe to create a travel bubble. Under the plan, travelers would need to present negative polymerase chain reaction test results for COVID-19 before they would be allowed to join a travel group, the Tourism Bureau has said. Visitors from Palau would not have to undergo a compulsory 14-day quarantine required from other travelers to Taiwan, and Taiwanese visiting Palau would not have to undergo seven days of quarantine, according to the proposed plan. However, Chen, who spoke with reporters on the sidelines of the Global Health
The US on Friday broke its daily record for new COVID-19 infections as it reported 84,218 new cases due to outbreaks in virtually every part of the country, according to a Reuters tally. The spike in cases came less than two weeks before the US presidential election on Nov. 3 and is hitting battleground states such as Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. On Thursday, the US reported a near-record 76,195 new cases. The previous record was 77,299 new cases on July 16. At the time, hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients hit 47,000 and two weeks later deaths rose to an average of 1,200 per day. Now, hospitalizations are more than 41,000 and deaths average nearly 800 per day. Sixteen states had record one-day increases in new cases on Friday and 11 reported a record number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Health experts have not pinpointed the reason for the rise, but have long warned that colder temperatures driving people inside, fatigue with COVID-19 precautions and students returning to schools and colleges could promote the spread of the virus. The US has the most cases in the world at 8.5 million and the most fatalities with nearly 224,000 lives lost. It has reported over the past week an average of 60,000 new cases per day, the highest seven-day average since early August. The Midwest has been the epicenter of the latest surge, but infections are rising nationwide. The northeast reported an 83 percent increase in cases in the past month. New cases have doubled in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New Jersey in the past four weeks compared with the prior four weeks, according to a Reuters analysis. Western states including Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming have reported a 200 percent increase in cases in the past four weeks when compared with the previous four weeks. It has been
Sudan on Friday became the latest Arab nation to agree to recognize Israel in a diplomatic triumph for US President Donald Trump announced days before US elections. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain last month signed an accord at the White House to normalize relations with Israel, but Sudan carries added symbolism as an Arab nation that has been at war with Israel. Trump announced the agreement by Sudan’s year-old, civilian-backed government moments after he formally moved to end the nation’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, achieving a major objective for Khartoum. Reporters were escorted into the Oval Office where Trump was on speakerphone with Sudan’s leadership and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This truly changes the region. It changes the lives of our peoples for the better and allows us to focus on the task of building our nations, building our future,” Netanyahu was heard telling Trump. Trump said that more Arab states are also looking to recognize Israel, including regional power Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s two holiest cities. “We have at least five more that want to come in and we’ll have many more than that soon,” Trump said in a room packed with visibly happy aides, few of them wearing masks despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Until last month, the only Arab nations to recognize Israel were Jordan and Egypt — neighbors of the Jewish state that had made peace after US mediation. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ office voiced “condemnation and rejection” of the deal between Sudan and the “Israeli occupation country which usurps Palestinian land.” While Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have found common cause with Netanyahu and Trump against Iran, Sudan appears mostly driven by a desperate economic situation that has fueled new protests in the past few days.
PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE: Although Taiwan must take measures to defend itself, it would not dismiss the prospect of peace, the Mainland Affairs Council minister said
The world would take an entirely different view of China if Beijing held constructive dialogue with Taiwan instead of resorting to threats, former US deputy secretary of state James Steinberg said yesterday. Steinberg made the remarks by videoconference at an international forum in Taipei. China is responsible for letting its neighbors believe its rise is peaceful and that it would not sacrifice the rights of others in doing so, Steinberg said. Beijing should be aware that its current path would not make it a winner, he said. A responsible Beijing — one that does not infringe on the rights of other nations when promoting its own — would be beneficial for everyone, he said. In this particular area, Beijing’s actions do not conform to what it preaches, he added. Regarding Taiwan-US relations, Steinberg said that the US does not pursue ties with Taiwan just because it is in the first island chain and is home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), but also because of the universal values of democracy that Taiwan embodies. US support is not limited to the Taiwan Relations Act or the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act, he said. Steinberg said that Taiwan should step up development of 5G networks, artificial intelligence systems and its biomedicine industry. This would enhance Taiwan’s economy and help it to further resist China’s attempts to influence it, he said, adding that Taiwan should collaborate closely with its partners and cut back on potential conflicts. Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said in his opening remarks at the conference that China’s comprehensive strength is growing, giving Beijing more clout to attempt to assert itself in international affairs. China’s efforts to spread its ideology abroad is affecting the world’s political and economic order, and Taiwan hopes Beijing would act as a responsible nation and contribute to regional and global peace,
‘SPIRIT OF WAR’: The speech coincides with the release of an action-thriller film depicting a band of Chinese soldiers fighting the US in the Korean War
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday warned of China’s military resolve to defeat “invaders,” speaking on a 70th anniversary remembrance of the Korean War, the only time Chinese forces have fought the US. In a long speech, heavy on patriotism and flecked by anecdotes of heroism by Chinese forces, Xi said that victory in the 1950 to 1953 conflict was a reminder that his nation stood ready to fight anyone “creating trouble ... on China’s doorstep.” Beijing frequently uses war anniversaries to fire thinly covered warnings to the US of the military strength of the “new China.” The Korean War is a key foundation story for the Chinese Communist Party. The anniversary comes as the party is called out by US President Donald Trump, in a bitter row spanning trade, technology, human rights and Taiwan. Without explicitly naming the US, Xi loaded up with the historical precedent of the Korean War and took swings at modern day “unilateralism, protectionism and extreme egoism.” “Chinese people don’t create troubles, nor are we afraid of them,” Xi said to applause. “We will never sit back and watch any damage to our national sovereignty ... and we will never allow any force to invade or divide the sacred territory of the motherland,” he said. On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced it had agreed to sell more than US$1 billion dollars of missiles to Taiwan, the sharpest potential flashpoint with US forces. The Korean War was the first and so far only time Chinese and US forces have engaged in large-scale direct combat. According to the Chinese government, more than 197,000 Chinese soldiers died during the three-year war, which saw the US-led UN coalition pushed back to the 38th parallel bisecting the Korean Peninsula, after China weighed in on the side of North Korea’s communist army. The war, essentially fought to a bloody stalemate, is hailed in
US President Donald Trump on Thursday night turned in a more composed and disciplined debate performance, offering a marked contrast to the chaos and fury that defined his first battle with Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Even as the president earned credit for engaging in a more civil exchange of views — and maybe even brought a few doubters back into his camp — there was little reason to think he had scored the kind of dramatic victory he badly needed to turn around a race polls show he is losing. Trump’s supporters had spent more than a week teeing up an attack on the foreign business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter, but standing next to Biden during the final presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, Trump failed to make it stick. Biden managed to flip it back on Trump, pointing out news reports showing it was the president’s company that had a bank account in China, not him. Biden’s best moments occurred when he resisted taking the bait as Trump accused him of being corrupt, leading Biden to call out Trump for failing to release a single tax return. “What are you hiding?” Biden said. The former vice president was less sure-footed elsewhere in the debate. When under pressure from Trump, he appeared to endorse the eventual elimination of the oil industry. Trump immediately seized on Biden’s remark for voters in all-important Pennsylvania, where Biden’s position on reducing fracking wins him few friends in a state where fracking employs thousands of people. After the first debate devolved into a mess of cross-talk and bitterness, this session was notable for its substance, as voters could watch the two men lay out their closing arguments on almost every topic — COVID-19, immigration, race relations — and see the clear choice they face less than two weeks before election day. Trump scored when
Taiwan’s first round-the-island cruise liner yesterday docked in Kaohsiung on a four-day voyage launched as part of the tourism industry’s efforts to boost domestic travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Having embarked the previous day from the Port of Keelung with about 1,200 passengers, the Explorer Dream, operated by Genting Hong Kong (雲頂香港), docked at Kaohsiung with plans to sail to Hualien. Although the pandemic has greatly hampered travel around the world, the tour operator said that such voyages are being introduced amid a recovering local tourism industry, thanks in large part to the nation’s effective disease prevention efforts. The maiden cruise was well-received, with 80 percent of the tickets having been sold, the tour operator said. The vessel can accommodate 3,630 passengers, but the number was reduced so that social distancing and other disease prevention measures could be observed, it said. The ship’s passengers must take precautions, such as wearing masks in public spaces and practicing social distancing when seated, it added. Genting Cruise Lines said that the agricultural industry is being promoted in a special area aboard the ship, where 72 local products are available for sale and free samples are offered for more than 50 of them. Lion Travel Service (雄獅旅行社), which partners with the cruise line, said that seven voyages are to embark from Kaohsiung or Tainan, and that after Nov. 27, winter tours would be introduced, with at least one vessel embarking from Kaohsiung each month. The voyages embarking from Kaohsiung would be four or five-day tours, and would be similarly priced to the Keelung tours, Lion Travel president Andy Yu (游國珍) said. More tours are to be introduced if the market responds well, Yu added. Fares start at NT$8,900 per person, Yu said. Each passenger spends about NT$2,500 each time the ship docks, so a considerable amount is added to local economies, he added.
Contaminated water that would reportedly be released into the sea from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant contains a radioactive substance that has the potential to damage human DNA, a Greenpeace investigation has said. The environmental group said the 1.23 million tonnes of water stored in more than 1,000 tanks at the plant contains “dangerous” levels of the radioactive isotope carbon-14, in addition to quantities of tritium that have already been widely reported. The publication of the report Stemming the Tide 2020: The reality of the Fukushima radioactive water crisis comes days after Japanese media reported that the government was close to giving its approval to release the water into the Pacific Ocean, despite objections from local fishers who say the move would destroy their livelihoods. “We cannot postpone the issue forever,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said this week. “We would like to make a decision responsibly as soon as possible.” While most attention has been focused on tritium — which cannot be removed by the on-site filtration system used by the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) — Greenpeace Japan and Greenpeace East Asia said that radioactive carbon in the stored water would also be discharged. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,370 years and becomes “incorporated into all living matter,” the report said. “It concentrates in fish at a level thousands of times higher than tritium. Carbon-14 is especially important as a major contributor to collective human radiation dose and has the potential to damage human DNA,” it said. The Japanese government and TEPCO refer to the water — which becomes tainted when it is used to cool the plant’s tsunami-damaged reactors — as “treated water” and give the impression that it contains only tritium, it added. TEPCO’S advanced liquid processing system removes highly radioactive substances from the water, but is unable to filter
DEPLOYMENT SPEED: Association of Strategic Foresight research fellow Chieh Chung said that the key is whether reserve forces can be rapidly deployed when a crisis hits
The nation could deploy 450,000 soldiers — including roughly 260,000 reservists and 185,000 standing forces — as a first-response force in the event of a military invasion, Minister of National Defense (MND) Yen De-fa (嚴德發) told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) asked whether the ministry had an estimate of how long it would take to recall reservists if a war broke out, adding that, if not, the ministry should definitely conduct simulation exercises. The ministry has plans to conduct such simulations in 2022, Yen said, adding that recall and training programs would be staggered for the least disruption to social order. Chiang said that the ministry must have the information, even at the cost of disrupting society. The ministry has considered extending recall and training programs to two weeks to address such concerns, Yen added. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) asked about leave for reservists, their discipline and whether active-duty female soldiers should serve as reservists. The Regulations on Leave Days for the Reservist Recall and Training Program (國軍後備軍人教育召集訓練期間休(請)假實施規定) state that reservists are not allowed to take leave during a recall, although an emergency might qualify them for at most two days’ leave, General Mobilization Office Director Han Kang-ming (韓岡明) said. Recalled reservists receive the same punishment as active-duty soldiers for any breach of the code of conduct for military personnel, such as drinking alcohol before returning to base or not returning to base, Han added. Tsai cited Internet users’ posts that active-duty female soldiers should serve as reservists and asked for Yen’s “professional opinion.” Existing laws do not require active-duty female soldiers to serve as reservists, but the increasing number of women in the military has prompted calls for them to be eligible for recalls. In 2018, the ministry said
HONING DEFENSES: The US Department of State said that land-attack missiles in particular would improve Taiwan’s ‘capability to meet current and future threats’
The US Department of State on Wednesday approved US$1.8 billion in new arms for Taiwan and submitted the package to the US Congress for a final review in a move aimed at improving Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities against a long-threatened invasion by China. The package has 135 extended-range standoff land-attack missiles from Boeing Co valued at US$1 billion, US$436 million of high-mobility artillery rocket systems made by Lockheed Martin Corp and US$367 million in surveillance and reconnaissance sensors from Raytheon Technologies Corp to be mounted on aircraft. The submission to Congress for a 30-day review, which is unlikely to draw opposition, comes two months after the US and Taiwan completed the sale of 66 new model F-16 Block 70 aircraft from Lockheed. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the sale as “severe interference in China’s internal affairs” that would “undermine China’s sovereignty and security interests,” and vowed retaliation, including sanctions against the US companies involved. In Taipei, the Presidential Office thanked the US for the sale. “By providing us with these defensive weapons, the US is not only helping Taiwan strengthen and modernize our national defense capabilities, it is also increasing our asymmetric capabilities, making Taiwan more capable and confident of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region,” Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said in a statement. This is the eighth arms sale package announced by US President Donald Trump’s administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a news release yesterday, thanking Washington for backing its commitment to the US’ Taiwan Relations Act and former US president Ronald Reagan’s “six assurances” with concrete action. “Taiwan will continue to deepen its security partnership with the US and help maintain the Indo-Pacific region’s peace, stability and prosperity,” the ministry said. The Executive Yuan said in a statement that deepening economic cooperation between the US
Taiwan is eager to bolster cooperation with the US as the global supply chain undergoes restructuring, especially in the areas of semiconductors, communications, artificial intelligence (AI), green energy and precision healthcare, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday at a weekly Cabinet meeting. His remarks followed a report by the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Taiwan-US partnerships in an era of global supply chain restructuring. He instructed the ministry and other agencies to promote economic dialogue with the US, and to make concrete plans to achieve cooperation in strategic areas. The US Department of State on Aug. 31 announced that the US and Taiwan would launch an Economic and Commercial Dialogue to be led by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach, and “preparatory talks” were held during the undersecretary’s two-day visit last month. Su said that the deepening of Taiwan-US economic ties and reorganization of the global supply chain are two of the government’s most important policy goals. He highlighted four strategic areas: semiconductors, communications, AI and other cutting-edge technologies; green energy and innovative industries; healthcare industries; and development of the global market. Cooperation would enormously benefit the two nations, Su said, citing estimates by industry experts that these areas would help the US to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in additional value, as well as hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of job opportunities. Stepping up economic cooperation has become a hot topic in Taiwan and the US, Su said, adding that several US lawmakers, government departments and business groups have called on US President Donald Trump’s administration to initiate bilateral trade agreement negotiations with Taiwan. These voices in the US not only reflect the extensive support that the US has for Taiwan in the public and private sectors, but also highlights that Taiwan-US economic cooperation is a mutually beneficial
Pope Francis on Wednesday voiced support for same-sex couples, calling them “children of God” and saying that they should be allowed to have legally recognized civil unions. The pope, whose opposition to gay marriage remains unchanged, said in a documentary premiered at the Rome Film Festival: “These are children of God; they have the right to a family.” “What we have to create is a law of civil union. They have the right to be legally protected — I have defended that,” he said in filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky’s Francesco. While Francis has previously spoken about same-sex unions, he has always voiced opposition to gay marriage, saying that marriage should only be between a man and woman. “‘Marriage’ is a historic word,” he told French sociologist Dominique Wolton in a 2017 book of interviews. “Always among human beings, and not only in the Church, it has been between a man and a woman. You can’t just change that like that.” “Since the beginning of the pontificate the pope has spoken of respect for homosexuals and has been against their discrimination,” Vatican expert Vania de Luca told RaiNews. “The novelty today is that he defends as pope a law for civil unions.” After becoming pope in 2013, Francis took a welcoming tone toward LGBTQ people, launching his phrase: “Who am I to judge?” and welcoming gay couples to the Vatican on several occasions. The two-hour documentary screened on Wednesday traces the seven years of his pontificate and his travels. Chilean Juan Carlos Cruz, an activist against sexual abuse within the Church, accompanied the director to the film screening on Wednesday. “When I met Pope Francis, he told me he was very sorry about what happened. ‘Juan, it is God who made you gay and he loves you anyway. God loves you and the Pope loves you too,’” Cruz said in the
The Thai government yesterday canceled a state of emergency that it had declared last week for Bangkok in a gesture offered by the embattled prime minister to cool massive student-led protests seeking democratic reforms. The decree had banned public gatherings of more than four people and allowed censorship of the media, among other provisions. It was challenged in court by an opposition party and a group of university students. The revocation of the emergency decree, effective at noon yesterday, declared that the situation had been mitigated and could now be dealt with by existing laws. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha went on national television on Wednesday night to appeal to pro-democracy protesters to reduce political tensions and promised to lift the emergency measure. “I will make the first move to de-escalate this situation,” he said. “I am currently preparing to lift the state of severe emergency in Bangkok and will do so promptly if there are no violent incidents.” As he was speaking, protesters marched near Government House, his office, to demand that he step down. They also asked for the release of their colleagues who were arrested in connection with earlier protests. They said that if their demands were not met, they would return in three days. Although the protesters pushed their way through police lines, neither side resorted to violence. The leader of the opposition Pheu Thai party’s team at the court on Wednesday said that he was not impressed that Prayuth had lifted the decree. “He’s really doing it to protect himself. Why? Because if he didn’t lift the emergency decree today, and the court ordered the temporary protection of the protesters, it would mean all his orders and announcement relating to this were illegal,” lawmaker Cholanan Srikaew said.
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