Former US Ambassador to China James Lilley said Saturday that even if China enacts an anti-secession law, it is uncertain that Beijing will take any action against Taiwan in accordance with the law, as "law is what you say, policy is what you do."
Lilley also served as former director of the American Institute of Taiwan's Taipei Office.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the Taiwan-US Science and Technology Industry Association, Lilley noted that China passed a bill in 1992 to include Taiwan and Tiaoyutai in its territory. "But it's a law, not policy," he said, adding that China's current enactment of an anti-secession law is similar to that of the earlier law.
The anti-secession law itself is not a cross-strait problem and only the escalation of tension on both sides of the strait will cause problems, he further said, adding that he neither sees tension in the Taiwan Strait nor any provocation from Taiwan to challenge China. Lilley also said he believes Taipei and Beijing can resolve their differences peacefully.
However, he said the US does not want to hear the Taiwan government remark that "if China attacks Taiwan, the United States will protect the island."
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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