A top US National Security Council official said on Saturday that Washington would like to see Taipei develop better ties with Beijing and it has no concerns about any potential negative effects of recent developments in cross-strait relations.
National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Dennis Wilder made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question on Washington’s understanding of recent developments in cross-strait relations and their implications and whether the US had any concerns, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
Wilder was approached by reporters at a dragon boat competition organized by outgoing Representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) in Washington, CNA said. Wu tendered his resignation following the inauguration of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.
Washington has no concerns about the expeditious developments in the Taiwan Strait, Wilder said, because the Taiwanese and the Americans have a special tie and the Taiwanese value Taiwan-US relations.
Since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office, Wilder said, cross-strait ties are moving in the right direction.
Ma made clear his vision for the future of Taiwan’s relations with the US and China in his inaugural speech, Wilder said.
In the address, Ma made several pledges, vowing to pursue “reconciliation and a truce” with China both concerning cross-strait relations and Taiwan’s interaction in the international community.
Ma promised to maintain the “status quo” and not to amend the Constitution. He also promised to “rationalize the defense budget” and purchase US weaponry.
Washington and the Pentagon have been frustrated by the KMT’s obstruction in the legislature of funding for an arms package approved by US President George W. Bush in April 2001.
Former White House chief of staff Andrew Card, who attended Ma’s inauguration at the request of Bush, reported positively on Taiwan’s development and the state of Taiwan-US relations, Wilder said.
Card was impressed by Taiwan’s vitality, industrial spirit, strong private sector, prosperity and vibrant democracy, he said.
With its second peaceful transfer of power, Taiwan has made the shift from a young democracy to a mature democracy, he said.
The people of Taiwan should be proud of themselves and Washington is proud of the Taiwanese, he said.
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,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
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