Taiwan hopes this week's Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will focus on economic issues and avoid discussing President Lee Teng-hui's (
Taiwan's "primary task" at the conference is to push its bid to join the World Trade Organization, said Chiang Pin-kung (
Chiang is the island's top delegate who will represent Lee at the conference.
Taiwan will "strongly push for the inclusion of those APEC members who are not already members of the WTO with all speed," Chiang told Taiwan's Chinese Television Network.
Taiwan is in the final stage of joining the WTO but Beijing demands that the island not be allowed to join before China does.
Chiang said, however, that if asked about relations with China by participants or international media at the conference, he will stress that despite Lee's redefinition of relations with China as "special state-to-state," Taiwan's basic policies towards the mainland are unchanged.
"Lee has said [China] policy hasn't changed and we will be willing to constantly reiterate this," Chiang said.
China's President Jiang Zemin (
The Clinton-Jiang meeting is expected to take place on the sidelines of the 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Auckland, New Zealand from September 12 to 13.
A Chinese spokesman last week urged the US to honor commitments to support Beijing's reunification with Taiwan "with concrete actions," possibly signaling that China will demand the United States forego arms sales to the island.
Jiang himself took aim at Lee's "state-to-state" speech Saturday during a pre-summit visit to Thailand, calling it "dangerous."
Officials have said that they though it unlikely that there would be any major change of policy on the US' part and that Taipei had been assured by Washington there would be no surprises from the Clinton-Jiang summit.
But analysts say Taipei cannot lower its guard given the painful memories of seeing its interests sacrificed by its major ally.
During a state visit to China in June 1998, Clinton said Washington would not support a policy of "two Chinas" or "one China and one Taiwan."
Nor would it back Taiwan's membership in any international organization which required statehood, he said in a statement which has become known as the "three no's" policy.
"It is our earnest hope that no irrelevant issues would be raised and discussed," Minister of Foreign Affairs Jason Hu (胡志強) said last week, adding that Taipei could be briefed by Washington both before and after the Clinton-Jiang meeting.
APEC is one of the few international organizations that Taiwan is permitted to join as a full member.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS