The government should not misinterpret anti-war protests around the globe and damage relations with Washington by not supporting a US-led military action against Iraq, said academics at a seminar yesterday.
"Although NATO's France, Germany and Belgium have voiced opposition to the launching of war on Iraq, the majority of countries around the world -- despite anti-war calls from civilian groups within those countries -- do support US military action against Iraq," said Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), a research fellow in the Taiwan Research Institute's Division of Strategic and International Studies.
"If Taiwan were to misjudge the international trend of events and take on an anti-war stance concerning Iraq, it would undoubtedly harm relations with the US," said Liao at the seminar sponsored by the Taiwan Thinktank.
While receiving a group of visiting US Congress members last Tuesday, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) appeared to give tacit support for Washington's plans for a possible war in Iraq, although he didn't explicitly endorse the idea.
"The president expressed again that this nation supports US efforts against terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction,'' according to a Presidential Office statement issued after the meeting.
"Some worry that if Taiwan strongly declares support for the US effort against terrorism and a war on Iraq, Taiwan would become a target for terrorists," Liao said. "However, I think that such misgivings might not be a bad thing if they can help propel government agencies to strengthen and enhance overall public security."
Liao said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should back the US call for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to voluntarily leave Iraq.
Lin Cheng-yi (林正義), a research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica, said that the nation should remain alert to what China's reaction is to all this.
"China has just completed a generation shift of power," said Lin. "Taiwan can take the opportunity to observe Hu's [Vice President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤)] manner in dealing with this international event to gain a better understanding of China's new leaders."
Although US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Saturday that Washington is not prepared to compromise its support for Taiwan to get China's help in persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program, Lin said that the government should monitor Powell's discussions with senior Chinese officials.
Powell arrived Beijing yesterday for talks on both Iraq and North Korea.
Lin said that the tension concerning North Korea can work both ways for this country.
"It would be bad if China, taking advantage of US preoccupation with Iraq and North Korea, took the opportunity to provoke and endanger Taiwan's national security" Lin said.
"On the other hand, ties between Taipei and Washington could be enhanced if the US becomes frustrated with China if Beijing is unable to play an effective role in persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions," he said.
"Another possible scenario to Taiwan's advantage would be if tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to on the rise, China would have to strengthen its military deployment to regions bordering North Korea," Lin said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS