US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said on Friday that a planned US sale of advanced radar systems to Taiwan is in line with Washington's policy of maintaining good cross-strait relations.
Speaking to reporters after testifying at a closed Congressional hearing on military affairs, he said the US would maintain its longstanding delicate policy of safeguarding Taiwan's security and respecting the "one China" principle.
The Pentagon said earlier this week that Taiwan had requested the sale of two ultra-high frequency long-range early warning radar systems capable of detecting ballistic and cruise missiles. The radar systems are reportedly worth nearly US$1.8 billion.
The US announcement came amid growing uncertainty over the situation in the Taiwan Straits following the re-election last month of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Wolfowitz was asked on Friday to explain why the Pentagon decided to announce the arms sales just after Taiwan's election, which China said could send a wrong signal to separatists in Taiwan and would lead to further tension.
"We conduct our arms sales to Taiwan within the framework of a longstanding policy that is aimed at encouraging good communications, cross-Strait, and encouraging a peaceful resolution of differences between the two sides," Wolfowitz said.
"And we've got to continue pursuing that policy in a careful way as we have for a long time," Wolfowitz said.
A day after the Pentagon announced the planned sale on Wednesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said that his government would seek clarification from the US.
China now has roughly 500 ballistic missiles within range of Taiwan and is adding more at a rate of about 75 a year, according to US officials.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS