US Vice President Kamala Harris on the deck of a US warship in Japan yesterday said that the administration of US President Joe Biden intends to deepen unofficial ties with Taiwan.
“Taiwan is a vibrant democracy that contributes to the global good — from technology to health, and beyond, and the United States will continue to deepen our unofficial ties,” Harris said aboard the USS Howard, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, excerpts of her speech released by the White House in advance showed.
She said that Beijing “has challenged freedom of the seas” and “has flexed its military and economic might to coerce and intimidate its neighbors.”
Photo: Reuters
Many have witnessed “disturbing behavior in the East China Sea and in the South China Sea, and most recently, provocations across the Taiwan Strait,” she said.
“The United States believes that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is an essential feature of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Harris said.
Harris is on a four-day trip to Japan and South Korea intended to demonstrate US commitment to allies in the region.
Photo: AFP
The trip sets the stage for Biden’s visit to the region later this year, when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and speak with allies about efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and address rising tensions over Taiwan.
Harris’ remarks to US sailors wearing dress whites came after Biden pledged in an interview aired on Sept. 18 to defend Taiwan against a hypothetical “unprecedented attack.”
Harris said that US forces would operate in the region “undaunted and unafraid” even as Washington expects “continued aggressive” actions by China.
“We will continue to oppose any unilateral change to the status quo,” she said. “And we will continue to support Taiwan’s self-defense, consistent with our long-standing policy.”
In Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told a media briefing that Washington needed to return to the “one China” policy and “unequivocally make clear that it opposes all Taiwan separatist activities.”
Before Harris spoke to the US service members onboard the Howard, she stepped below deck and was given a demonstration of the warship’s missile and anti-submarine capabilities.
A commander pointed at a digital map showing a hypothetical enemy, a “hostile country” that he declined to identify.
“It’s not Guam,” he said.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)