The US Monday welcomed the visit of a group headed by Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) to China, saying that trips between China and Taiwan could contribute to solving cross-strait issues.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli made the comment hours after the 35-person KMT group arrived in Guangzhou at the start of a five day visit, the first official KMT trip to China since the party was routed from China in 1949.
"We believe that dialogue is the best way to achieve long-term resolution of cross-strait differences, and what we're looking for are solutions that are acceptable to both sides," Ereli told reporters at his daily press briefing.
"And to the extent that visits across the Strait can contribute to that, then they're welcome," he said.
Ereli declined comment on Saturday's mass rally in Taipei to protest China's new "Anti-Secession" Law authorizing a Chinese military attack on Taiwan, reiterating only that Washington supports dialogue between the two sides and "opposes unilateral acts by either side that contribute to tension."
It was not immediately clear how the State Department's comments on the Chiang trip to China would reverberate among Taiwan supporters in Washington. Conservatives, who back both Bush and Taiwan, have been upset over the administration's negative attitude toward Chen and have been concerned over recent pan-blue camp attitudes toward Beijing.
One of Taiwan's biggest boosters in Washington, Heritage Foundation scholar John Tkacik, has talked about a "third KMT-CCP alliance," a reference to the ill-fated alliances between Chiang Kai-shek (
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS