A US House of Representatives special committee on China is planning to visit Taiwan in a few months, Nikkei Asia reported yesterday.
The report came amid rising tension between Washington and Beijing after an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon was spotted over the US and later shot down.
US Representative Rob Wittman, a member of the US House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), told the Japanese news magazine that he and other committee members are in talks on a possible trip to Taiwan.
Photo: Reuters
“We know that will infuriate the Chinese, but I think it’s incredibly important for us to do that [visit Taiwan], because you have to send the signal that we’re strongly on the side of Taiwan,” Wittman said.
The delegation sent by the committee might hold a field hearing in Taiwan if the planned visit is realized, he said.
Wittman last month told Washington-based think tank the Project 2049 Institute that US Representative Mike Gallagher hoped to hold hearings in Taiwan, “as it would be meaningful to the world as well as Taiwan.”
Gallagher chairs the committee, which was founded last month and is scheduled to start officially by the end of this month.
It would examine the CCP from various angles including national security, economy and human rights, Nikkei Asia reported.
By holding hearings on policy issues and proposed bills, the committee can make policy recommendations on China to other committees in the US House of Representatives, it added.
Other high-profile US politicians reported to be considering a visit to Taiwan include US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy and US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, who has said that he was planning to lead a delegation to Taiwan this spring.
Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) last week said that there was no new information about McCarthy’s possible visit.
A TVBS poll released on Friday showed that 56 percent of respondents said they would welcome McCarthy’s visit, while 23 percent did not.
The survey, conducted from Monday last week to Thursday, was based on telephone interviews from 1,171 Taiwanese aged 20 or older. It has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS