Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (
Lee said yesterday that he would land in California to attend a conference in Santa Barbara before departing for Washington, DC.
He is slated to arrive in the US capital on Jan. 18, in time for participation in the inaugural festivities planned for Jan. 20.
A Chinese-language newspaper report said yesterday that Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (
While Foreign Ministry spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) had refrained earlier yesterday from confirming or denying reports of Lee's trip to Washington, he verified the reports after Lee's confirmation of details.
Lu said, however, that they were still in the process of completing plans and that changes were still possible. He did not confirm whether Wu would accompany Lee on the trip, or if Wu planned to meet with US officials or academics regarding US-Taiwan ties.
Lu said that the details of the Taiwanese delegation's trip to Washington would be finalized by tomorrow at the earliest, adding that there was not much time left.
In 2001, the Taiwanese delegation was led by Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang had handed the letter to Richard Bush, head of the American Institute in Taiwan at the time, who had in turn given the letter to Bush. The letter had called for enhanced arms sales and better communication between Taiwan and the US.
A group of about 30 legislators, as well as party and legislative aides traveled to Washington for Bush's inauguration in 2001 and had taken the opportunity to meet with US think tanks, government officials and Congressmen to discuss the direction of US-Taiwan ties under the then newly inaugurated Bush and his administration.
It comes as no surprise that Lee should be appointed by Chen to lead Taiwan's group of representatives to Bush's inauguration ceremonies. Lee has represented the president at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings on several occasions and has come to be seen as the president's personal ambassador.
The respected Nobel laureate in chemistry said that he is going to Washington for no other purpose but to be an envoy at the inauguration.
Lee said he will leave discussions on Taiwan-US relations and related issues to other members of his delegation.
"I don't know about this part," he said, addressing the question on which issues concerning Taiwan-US relations will be discussed during the visit.
Lee will leave Washington on Jan. 22 to return to Taiwan.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS