The US on Saturday congratulated the people of Taiwan for holding successful Legislative Yuan elections, but stopped short of congratulating the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for its victory, in a brief statement issued some hours after the results were announced in Taipei.
In a largely boilerplate statement that echoed similar comments issued after previous elections, the State Department said, "The United States congratulates the people of Taiwan for a successful and democratic election, and we are looking forward to the continued close and unofficial relationship with Taiwan."
The department made no comment on the two referendums that failed to gain approval, but sources said that the administration must be pleased that they failed, in view of Washington's hostility to the planned presidential election-day referendum on entry into the UN under the name Taiwan.
The administration "must be rubbing their hands with some glee" that the two referendums drew less than the 50 percent participation rate needed for adoption, one source speculated.
The feeling is that the failure of the referendums, which repeated the experience of the two national security referendums in 2004, might presage a similar fate for the UN referendum.
The referendum plan has soured relations between the US administration and President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) government over the past year.
One observer noted the significance of the phrase, "continued close" relations, used by the State Department.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
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