Taiwanese are determined to defend their homeland and its sovereignty, and are willing to invest more in regional peace with like-minded partners, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told a delegation of US representatives yesterday.
US Representative Ken Calvert, who chairs the US House of Representatives Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, is leading the delegation to Taiwan on a two-day visit.
The other members are fellow Republican US representatives Tom Cole, Dave Joyce and Mike Garcia, as well as Democratic US Representative Ed Case, all of whom are on the House Committee on Appropriations.
Photo provided by Taiwan Presidential Office
Calvert is on his second visit to Taiwan following a trip in 1995, while Cole visited the nation more than 40 years ago, and the others are on their first visit to Taiwan, Tsai said.
The representatives have significant influence on US government expenditures, including for defense resources, Tsai said, adding that their visit demonstrates the importance they attach to Taiwan’s security and Taiwan-US relations.
Highlighting her administration’s efforts to bolster defense resilience and restructure the military, Tsai reiterated the resolve of Taiwanese to defend themselves.
“We are willing and able to fortify cooperation with the US and like-minded partners,” she said. “Together, we can invest even more effort toward regional peace and stability, and democratic resilience across the globe.”
She also thanked the US Congress for its “unwavering bipartisan support,” in particular the Taiwan-friendly portions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.
On trade, Tsai mentioned the second round of Taiwan-US Initiative on 21st-Century Trade negotiations in January, expressing hope that the two sides could reach an agreement on trade facilitation, labor rights and digital trade.
This agreement could hopefully become a basis for signing a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement, she added.
Calvert thanked Tsai for her welcome, saying that delegation members have seen many “positive changes” in Taiwan since their previous visits.
He also said they look forward to discussing regional security, trade and investment, among other areas of mutual interest.
The delegation is in Taiwan to build on decades of peace and prosperity in the region and strengthen ties between Taiwan and the US, he added.
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
RSS