Taiwan yesterday thanked US senators for introducing legislation that aims to help Taipei keep its 17 remaining allies, after China within three years poached five of the nation’s diplomatic allies.
The bipartisan Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act introduced on Monday by Republican senators Cory Gardner and Marco Rubio, and Democratic senators Ed Markey and Bob Menendez is intended to strengthen Taiwan’s standing in the world, a news release issued by Gardner said.
It was created in response to five nations’ severance of diplomatic ties with Taiwan over the past two-and-a-half years due to Chinese pressure, it added.
Photo: AFP
“The TAIPEI Act requires a US strategy to engage with governments around the world to support Taiwan’s diplomatic recognition or strengthen unofficial ties with Taiwan,” the statement said.
It authorizes the US Department of State to downgrade US relations with any government that takes adverse action regarding Taiwan, including suspending or altering foreign assistance, such as military financing, it said.
“This bipartisan legislation demands a whole-of-government approach to stand up to China’s bullying tactics against Taiwan, and will send a strong message to those nations considering siding with China over Taiwan that there will be consequences for such actions,” Gardner was quoted as saying in the news release.
“Beijing is promising paydays to governments to entice them to cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan,” Markey said. “Without a coherent US strategy to push back, Taiwan’s official partners might drop from 17 to zero. We must stand up for our friends in Taiwan.”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) expressed gratitude for the senators’ long-term support.
Washington is the nation’s most important ally, Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said, thanking the US Congress for its long-standing support.
“We will also engage in close negotiations with different divisions of the US government to ensure that Taiwan’s international space will not be affected by other factors” Lin said.
Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May 2016, El Salvador, Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Burkina Faso have switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing.
A US Department of State spokesperson last month said that the decision by El Salvador, the last nation to cut ties, was disappointing.
“Although we recognize the sovereign right of every country to determine its diplomatic relations, we are deeply disappointed by this decision,” the spokesperson said.
Additional reporting by Su Yung-yao
‘HONORED’: The DPP’s Lin Fei-fan said friends working in the foreign media, the diplomatic corps and at think tanks congratulated him for making the sanctions list The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday slammed China for sanctioning Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and six other Taiwanese officials for being “diehard separatists,” saying its attempt to intimidate Taiwanese would backfire. China has no authority to dictate the actions of Taiwanese, because Taiwan is a democratic nation that upholds the rule of law, and would never yield to intimidation and threats from an authoritarian regime, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news conference in Taipei. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency earlier yesterday reported that the Taiwan Work Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee has imposed
DELEGATIONS: Japanese Representative Keiji Furuya is to head a group arriving next week, while Canadian lawmakers are planning a ‘necessary’ trip to Taiwan Lawmakers from Japan, Canada, Germany and the UK are planning trips to Taiwan in the next few months to show support amid heightened Chinese intimidation following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei earlier this month. Next to visit from Monday to Wednesday next week is a delegation from Japan’s parliament, Kyodo News reported on Tuesday. The group is to be led by Japanese Representative Keiji Furuya, chair of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council and a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Kyodo News reported, quoting multiple sources. They are expected to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)
Washington on Monday said that US members of Congress would continue to visit Taiwan, while condemning China for restarting live-fire exercises around Taiwan amid a visit to Taipei by US lawmakers, saying it was an “overreaction.” China conducted drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan on Monday while a five-member US delegation led by US Senator Ed Markey was in Taipei, near the end of their 21-hour visit. As of 5pm, China had deployed 30 warplanes and five military vessels in areas around Taiwan, and 15 of the aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of
STRETCHED TO THE LIMIT: Sichuan Province is cutting power supply to industrial customers until Saturday to ensure grid stability amid a heat wave in Southern China Power outages in China’s Sichuan Province would not affect the operations of Apple Inc’s iPhone and computer assemblers, such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Pegatron Corp (和碩), as their products are primarily made in other manufacturing sites in China, Fubon Securities Investment Services Co (富邦投顧) said yesterday. Hon Hai assembles iPhones in Zhengzhou in Henan Province, while Pegatron and Luxshare Precision Industry Co (立訊精密) make iPhones in Shanghai and Kunshan in Jiangsu Province, Fubon Securities said in a report. Apple’s MacBook laptops are assembled by Hon Hai in Zhengzhou and by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) in Shanghai, while its