The Presidential Office confirmed yesterday that President Chen Shui-bian (
Observers in Washington have said that the US decision to limit Chen's transit to and from Central America later this month to short stops in Alaska was a rebuke after Chen's push for a referendum on applying for UN entry using the name "Taiwan."
Presidential Office spokesman David Lee (
The president cherishes the friendship and relations with the US government, Lee added.
As the main purpose of Chen's trip is to cement ties with the nation's diplomatic allies in Central America after Costa Rica switched allegiance to China, Chen does not want the issue of his transit stops to blur the focus of this trip, Lee said.
Chen is scheduled to leave for Central America on Aug. 20 to attend a summit in Honduras.
Despite US opposition, Lee said Chen would continue to push for a referendum on Taiwan's UN bid.
The referendum issue has touched a raw nerve among State Department and other administration officials at a time when the US needs Chinese cooperation on a number of international fronts.
As such, Taiwan's transit request was the first opportunity the department and others in the administration had to make their displeasure known in a concrete way, observers say.
One source said that during Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) visit to Washington last month, the referendum issue dominated his talks with senior administration officials.
In the discussions, "almost all of the focus was on the referendum," one source said.
The State Department on Friday confirmed that the US had decided to let Chen transit through Alaska, but said that the details of the trip and the transit had yet to be ironed out.
"We understand that the details and dates of the president's travel have not yet been finalized," a department official told the Taipei Times.
"That said, in keeping with our long-standing policy, and in strict conformance with existing criteria, the United States is prepared to facilitate transit in both directions [to and from Central America] through Alaska in August. These arrangements are intended only to facilitate transit to a third country," the official said.
While the official would not discuss the basis for the decision to allow the stopovers in Alaska, she said that the decision was "in accordance with our `one China' policy, along with the three US-China joint communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act."
It was also in keeping with the criteria of ensuring the safety, comfort, convenience and "the dignity of the traveler," the official said.
Chen's trip comes just weeks after the US House of Representatives approved without objection a resolution calling on the Washington administration to allow the Taiwanese president and other high-level Taiwanese officials to visit Washington freely for talks with the US government on matters of joint concern to the two countries.
Taiwan's lobbyists in Washington are making preparations for the resolution to be introduced in the Senate after Congress returns from a month-long summer recess on Sept. 4.
While Congressional members who support Taiwan are bound to be upset about the administration's decision to limit Chen's transit to Alaska, their absence from the capital -- with most currently in their home districts or trips abroad -- will limit their ability to arrange to meet or speak with Chen during his transit stops.
One possible exception would be Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a leading supporter of Taiwan and ranking Republican on the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
Murkowski "is always generous with her time" for visiting officials from Taiwan, a source said.
Other Congressional members are likely to try to contact Chen by telephone if they cannot make the trip to Alaska to meet him in person.
‘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