US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday.
The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said.
Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.”
Photo: Reuters
Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the US’ resolve to stand with Taiwan, Rubio said that Washington’s policy on the issue remains the same as it has always been.
“That’s the policy of the United States. That remains the policy of the United States,” Rubio said. “That’s been the policy of President Trump, and that will continue to be his policy. And when he makes policy decisions, he means them.”
Hewitt also asked whether the US would be able to deter Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) from attacking Taiwan.
Washington “can delay and deter by making the price of taking Taiwan higher than what [Xi] believes to be the benefit,” Rubio said.
However, Xi wants the annexation of Taiwan to be a crown jewel of his time in power, he added.
“So it’s a very delicate situation there,” Rubio said. “Our policy remains the same. We do not believe that there should be any violent and/or extortion-based change to the status.”
Separately, the US Department of State said that China’s intimidation campaign against Taiwan is a threat to freedom of speech and a destabilizing factor in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Twenty years after the passage of [Beijing’s] Anti-Secession Law, China’s intimidation campaign has gone global against Taiwan, and its supporters in the United States and around the world,” a department spokesperson told reporters via e-mail in response to questions about Taiwan-based Li Yanhe (李延賀), the editor-in-chief of Gusa Press (八旗文化), who last month was convicted in China of “inciting secession.”
China’s intimidation campaign has been “threatening free speech, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region and eroding norms that have underpinned the cross-strait status quo for decades,” the spokesperson said.
The judicial guidelines issued by China last year, which purportedly are based on its “Anti-Secession” Law and Criminal Law, are “draconian,” the e-mail said. “They direct Chinese courts and law enforcement agencies to prosecute and punish so-called ‘Taiwan independence diehards,’ including, in some cases, by the death penalty.”
In the face of such provocative and irresponsible actions by China, “the United States remains committed to maintaining the capacity to deter aggressive action and resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan,” it said.
The official also expressed concern over South Africa unilaterally changing the name of Taiwan’s representative office in the country.
Earlier this week, the ongoing issue of South Africa’s demand that Taiwan’s representative office be relocated continued, as the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation Web site renamed the Taipei Liaison Office as the “Taipei Commercial Office.”
The US encourages countries to expand their engagement with Taiwan, the spokesperson said.
Taiwan is a reliable, like-minded and democratic partner, whose relationships abroad bring significant benefits to citizens of those countries, they said.
While Taiwan has remained a good partner, the threat China poses to Taiwan has increased, they added.
China has sought to isolate Taiwan from the international community, including by pressuring countries to limit their engagement, the spokesperson said.
When the South Africa office controversy started in October last year, the South African department said the change was consistent with UN Resolution 2758.
The resolution does not limit any sovereign nation’s ability to engage with Taiwan, the spokesperson said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS