Taiwanese love democracy and seek peace, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, adding that Taipei would continue to work with the US and other democracies as the nation faces “continued authoritarian expansionism” from China.
Tsai made the comments at the start of a lunch with a visiting delegation of US lawmakers, hours after Beijing announced three days of military exercises around Taiwan.
“In recent years we have faced continued authoritarian expansionism,” Tsai said.
Photo: CNA
“Cooperation among democracies has become even more important. We will continue to work with the US and other like-minded countries to jointly defend the values of freedom and democracy,” she said, adding that “the people of Taiwan love democracy, seek peace and are keen to fulfill their responsibility in the international community.”
She also thanked the US Congress for being “a key force” in promoting relations between Taipei and Washington.
US Representative Michael McCaul, who led the visiting delegation, said they were in Taipei to show their strong support of Taiwan and that it was important that democracies stand together.
Photo: CNA
“As the [US] House [of Representatives] Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, I sign off on all foreign military sales, including weapons to Taiwan, and I promise you, Madam President, we will deliver those weapons,” he said.
Taiwan has since last year complained of delays regarding deliveries of US weapons, such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, as manufacturers seek to supply Ukraine to support its defense against Russia.
“We are doing everything we can in Congress to speed up these sales and get the weapons that you need to defend yourselves,” McCaul said.
McCaul, without elaborating, also said the US would provide training for the Taiwanese military in an effort to enhance the latter’s defensive capabilities.
“We will provide training to your military — not for war, but for peace,” he said. “Projecting weakness only invites aggression and conflict. Projecting strength provides deterrence and promotes peace.”
McCaul on Thursday arrived in Taiwan for a three-day visit, as part of a wider Indo-Pacific tour that also includes stops in Japan and South Korea.
The eight-member delegation also includes US representatives Guy Reschenthaler; Young Kim, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific; and Ami Bera, also a member of the foreign affairs committee.
The delegation has also met with executives of Taiwanese semiconductor and defense companies over the past few days.
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