A White House spokesman played down on Friday questions on the origin of Washington's congratulatory statement on President Chen Shui-bian's (
National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack made the remarks while responding to media questions regarding the White House statement congratulating Chen on his re-election and the fact that the congratulatory message came from the White House press secretary rather than from US President George W. Bush himself.
Chen defeated the pan-blue ticket of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
The White House issued a statement on March 26 in the name of the White House press secretary congratulating Chen on his re-election and reiterated its commitment to its "one-China" policy and the Taiwan Relations Act. The statement also exhorted the Taiwanese public to resolve the election dispute through established legal mechanisms.
Asked to explain why the statement was not issued in the name of Bush, McCormack said that "we wouldn't read any greater policy implications into what we said."
"We congratulated Mr. Chen on his election victory and also noted our confidence in the Taiwan people and Taiwan's democracy to resolve any questions that surround that election," he added.
As to a question relating to Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) request that Bush send a high-level delegation to attend the May 20 inauguration ceremony of the president- and vice president-elect, the spokesman said that no announcement would be made at this point.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS