Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has launched an online petition urging the US Congress to probe whether China covered up the COVID-19 outbreak and support Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO.
More than 76,800 people had signed the “Stop Communist China” petition as of last night, three days after it was launched by Haley, who has set a goal of 100,000 signatures.
As COVID-19 continues to devastate the US, more Americans have been calling for China to be held accountable for the spread of the virus.
“China’s communist government needs to be held accountable for their role in lying about the coronavirus pandemic, and the US Congress needs to respond now,” said the former governor of South Carolina, who served as US ambassador to the UN from 2017 to 2018.
“Join us in our fight to stop China from gaining influence in America and around the world. Sign this petition and please share with your friends,” the petition reads.
It calls on Congress to investigate the Chinese government’s role in covering up the initial COVID-19 outbreak, and calls for the manufacturing of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals to be brought back to the US to end China’s stranglehold on critically important supplies.
The petition also urges Congress to back Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO.
It urges Congress to make China pay the UN and other international organizations “like the second-largest economy in the world should — no more being treated like a poor ‘developing country.’”
The petition also calls on Congress to require US colleges and universities to disclose all Chinese government funding of professors and researchers.
“We must act and protect American security, health, and prosperity. Retweet and let’s send Congress a message,” Haley said on Twitter on Thursday.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying