Visiting US Representative Kevin Hern during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said he hopes to see Taiwan as an independent country one day.
Hern is leading a delegation of US lawmakers from the US Republican Study Committee (RSC), of which he is the chairman.
The group is to stay until tomorrow.
Photo: Reuters
“Support for Taiwan as an independent and sovereign nation has been one of the founding principles of the RSC and has remained a top priority for 50 years,” he said.
As the US celebrated its Independence Day yesterday, Hern said: “What an honor it would be to one day soon see Taiwan experience the same independence that our original 13 colonies enjoyed in the early days.”
He thanked Taiwanese for “wanting the liberties and freedoms that can only be truly experienced as an independent nation.”
He acknowledged the leadership of Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), saying the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US “is truly an amazing example of the hard work and commitment that is synonymous with the culture of Taiwan.”
The relationship between Taiwan and the US enjoys support across the political spectrum, and “all Americans of all walks of life understand the importance of our friendship,” Hern said.
Tsai thanked Hern for arranging the visit and promoting exchanges between Taiwan and the US.
Taiwan plays a vital role in the global supply chain and hopes to work with the US and other democratic partners to make it safer and more resilient, she said.
Tsai expressed the hope that Taiwan and the US would soon sign an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, following the signing of the first agreement under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade last month.
Earlier yesterday, the delegation met with Vice President William Lai (賴清德), who thanked delegation members for showing support for Taiwan through the visit.
Lai said he hoped that the committee can support Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would be beneficial to the economic development of Taiwan and the whole region.
Taiwan has been bolstering its national defense capabilities and hopes that the US would continue to provide the nation with the weapons necessary for the nation to defend itself, he said, adding that he also hopes the weapons would be delivered on time.
Separately, eight Canadian lawmakers arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a six-day visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The members of the delegation, which is led by Deputy Leader of the Canadian Conservative Party Melissa Lantsman, belong to major political parties and serve in important parliamentary committees, the ministry said.
As China continues to take unilateral actions to escalate regional tensions, the visit “fully demonstrates the Canadian parliament’s firm support for Taiwan,” it said.
Through the trip, the delegation would gain a better understanding of the situation in Taiwan and in the region, which can help improve the partnership between Taiwan and the Canadian parliament, it added.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS