The US Department of State has put back a statement that it does not support “Taiwan independence” in the latest update of a fact sheet on US-Taiwan relations.
The latest version of the fact sheet, published on Saturday last week, states “we do not support Taiwan independence,” a phrase that had been included in the fact sheet since at least 2018 before it was removed on May 5, triggering a strong protest from Beijing.
“We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means,” the fact sheet reads.
Photo: screen grab from the US Department of State Web site
However, the statement that “the US recognized the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole legal government of China and acknowledged the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China,” which was also removed on May 5, was not added back.
Asked if the latest update was a response to China’s protest, a department spokesperson who asked not to be named said “absolutely not.”
“We have always been clear with the PRC about our ‘one China’ policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act [TRA], the three [US-China] Joint Communiques and the ‘six assurances,’” the spokesperson said.
A statement that the US “maintains our capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of Taiwan” consistent with the TRA, was added to the updated fact sheet.
It was updated to reflect US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s speech on Thursday last week about the US’ approach toward China, the spokesperson said.
“We will continue to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international community, and deepen our economic ties, consistent with our ‘one China’ policy,” he said.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said that the US has explained the changes, while declining to comment further.
Taiwan will continue to uphold its democratic constitutional system and the inviolability of its sovereignty, the ministry said, adding that its future would be determined by the will of the Taiwanese people.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that the most important change made to the fact sheet was the removal on May 5 of the phrase “Taiwan is part of China.”
Previous versions of the document stated that the US acknowledged “the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.”
The rewording of the document suggests that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would not be seen as the continuation of a civil war, but would be regarded as a full-blown international incident, Wang said.
DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said that the many changes over such a short time show that Washington takes the Taiwan issue very seriously.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus convener William Tseng (曾銘宗) urged security and diplomatic agencies to make a careful assessment of whether the US’ Taiwan policy has changed.
It is not known whether China exerted pressure, but the government must make assessments on US policy and how it would affect the Republic of China, Tseng added.
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
RSS