Two former senior US officials arrived in Taiwan yesterday for post-election talks and to underscore the US government’s “longstanding interest” in peace across the Taiwan Strait, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday.
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate William Lai (賴清德), who won Saturday’s presidential election, is to take office on May 20.
A senior White House official last week said that, in a show of support for Taiwan, US President Joe Biden planned to send an unofficial delegation to Taiwan after Saturday’s elections.
Photo: CNA
The AIT yesterday said that former US national security adviser Stephen Hadley and former US deputy secretary of state James Steinberg would visit Taiwan.
“As we have done previously following a Taiwan presidential election, the US government has asked former senior officials to travel in their private capacity to Taiwan,” the AIT said, adding its US-based chair Laura Rosenberger was accompanying the duo.
The delegation is today to “meet with a range of leading political figures and convey congratulations from the American people to Taiwan on its successful elections, support for Taiwan’s continued prosperity and growth, and our longstanding interest in cross-Strait peace and stability,” the AIT said.
Photo: CNA
In other news, Japanese Representative Keiji Furuya, chair of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council, Japanese Representative Yasushi Kaneko and Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association chairman Ohashi Mitsuo are in Taiwan to congratulate the Taiwanese public for the elections.
The two representatives and Mitsuo yesterday had separate meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, and Lai at the DPP headquarters in Taipei.
Lai thanked the three for their trip highlighting the profound friendship between Taiwan and Japan.
The two countries are close democratic partners caring about regional peace and stability, and sharing common values such as democracy, Lai told Mitsuo, adding that he hoped to continue exchanges with Japan on economy, trade, net zero transition and innovation.
Japanese people understand the importance of the ties between Taipei and Tokyo, Mitsuo said, adding that Japan is looking forward to continuing to deepen cooperation and exchanges with Taiwan’s future government.
Mitsuo told Tsai that he is looking forward to working with Lai to further improve Taiwan-Japan relations, adding that the election result is an approval by Taiwanese people to Tsai administration’s policies.
Despite China’s various attempts to interfere in Taiwan’s elections, the nation elected its new leaders through democratic procedures, which was “sending an important message to the world,” Furuya said during the meeting with Tsai.
His council is to continue cooperating with the Taiwanese government to build a free and open Indo-Pacific region, he added.
All three Japanese representatives also expressed gratitude to Taiwanese for showing concern for their country after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Noto region of Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1.
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS