The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan.
The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan.
Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years."
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, Bloomberg
It must then submit an updated report based on its findings "not later than 90 days after completing" the review to the US Senate and House of Representatives foreign relations committees.
The office in a statement today thanked Trump for signing the bill into law.
The move “carries great significance in that it affirms the value of US interaction with Taiwan, supports closer Taiwan-US relations and stands as a firm symbol of our shared values of democracy, freedom and respect for human rights,” office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said the legislation would strengthen implementation of the 2020 Taiwan Assurance Act and ensure updates to contact guidelines that keep bilateral ties on a steady trajectory.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) thanked the US administration and Congress for their bipartisan support, and described the act’s signing as "a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations."
Updating the guidelines through more frequent reviews would allow both sides to engage more fully, including enabling Taiwanese officials to visit federal agencies for meetings, he said, although the measure did not specify such an outcome.
The bipartisan measure, introduced in February by US representatives Ann Wagner, the late Gerry Connolly and Ted Lieu, passed the House unanimously in May and cleared the Senate last month by unanimous consent.
After Washington severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979, the State Department established internal "red lines" governing contact between US diplomatic, military and other officials and their Taiwanese counterparts.
In January 2021, during Trump's first term, then-US secretary of state Mike Pompeo announced the termination of all existing restrictions on US-Taiwan contacts.
The administration of former US president Joe Biden later reinstated contact guidelines, but relaxed them, allowing routine meetings between US officials and Taiwanese representatives at federal agencies and at Taiwan’s representative office in Washington.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
RSS