US congressmen have launched a signature drive urging US President George W. Bush to review the longstanding "one China" policy, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker said yesterday.
"While China has become the US government's biggest enemy after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, many US congressmen have been wondering whether the `one China' policy makes sense any more and whether it is necessary to re-examine, or even better yet, revise it to a `one China, one Taiwan' policy," DPP Legislator Chiang Chao-yi (
He was quoting US congressmen, who are members of the pro-Taiwan sub-group in the US Congress -- the Taiwan Caucus.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SOONG
Chiang made the remark yesterday morning in the legislature after returning from his six-day trip to the US, where he met with think tank experts, congressmen and officials from the National Security Council, Department of Defense and State Department, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Randall Shriver.
According to Chiang, Shriver told the 10-person visiting group during a breakfast meeting last Monday that the US will deal with contingencies in the Taiwan Strait in compliance with the Taiwan Relations Act.
Shriver also told the group that China is not as strong as it seems but rather weak, because Beijing had sent officials to Washington twice before the "Anti-Secession" Law was adopted on March 14 in an attempt to convince the US of its validity.
In addition to warning Beijing about the consequences of enacting the law, Chiang said that the US government has made it very clear that such legislation would be unhelpful and a step in the wrong direction.
Delegation members were also present at a hearing in the House International Relations Committee last Wednesday, when Shriver addressed the passage of the "Anti-Secession" Law and its impact on cross-strait and US-China relations.
During the hearing, Chiang said, Shriver outlined the US government's efforts to let Beijing know their views of the legislation.
The efforts included the meeting between former deputy secretary Richard Armitage and director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office Chen Yunlin (
In a February visit to Beijing, National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Michael Green told Chinese leaders that passage of the legislation would undermine cross-strait stability.
The US ambassador to Beijing also urged China not to pass the legislation on the eve of the ratification vote by the National People's Congress, Chiang quoted Shriver as saying.
After talking with members of the US National Security Council, members of congress and think tank experts, Chiang said that most of them agreed that Beijing eventually opted to ignore the US warnings and forge ahead with the enactment of the controversial law because it was under a tremendous amount of pressure at home.
"In the face of rampant corruption, the huge gap between the rich and the poor as well as Chinese people's increasing distrust of the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese President Hu Jintao (
When asked to comment on Chinese National Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun's (
"They think that the KMT puts its own future at stake and runs counter to the will of the Taiwanese people, because more than 90 percent of the people of Taiwan are opposed to the Anti-Secession Law," heg said.
"They also think that what the KMT is doing is unbelievable, because it used to educate the public about the evils of communism during its 50-year reign, but now they, as an opposition party, are sucking up to the CCP," he said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
RSS