Characterizing himself as a representative of Taiwan who facilitated “communication without noise,” Representative to Washington King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said in an interview aired yesterday that the US had “very much welcomed” his appointment.
King had an interview with Hit FM radio at 7pm on Wednesday after a seven-and-a-half-hour question-and-answer session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
The interview was broadcast yesterday morning.
After about three weeks in office in Washington, King returned to Taiwan to brief the committee on the state and future prospects of US-Taiwan relations.
King said that during his three weeks in office he visited more than 20 senior US government officials and 24 members of Congress and senators in the US Congress.
“They [the US] very much welcomed my appointment” because he is a “close confidant” of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his appointment reflected the high degree of importance Ma has attached to Taiwan-US relations, King said.
“But there are both advantages and disadvantages,” he said.
King said that he is able to deliver Ma’s message to the US precisely, but that the US takes whatever he says as Ma’s exact stance and so he needs to express himself in a way that leaves no room for differing interpretations.
“I have to be cautious not to make mistakes. For me, there is no buffer zone,” he said.
King said that he was also welcomed by the US because of his experience in serving as secretary-general of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) between December 2009 and January last year.
“That helps shorten the distance. When I told them about the experiences, they said: ‘You know politics,’” King said.
In response to a question regarding the role of the US in Ma’s cross-strait policies, King said he was often asked by US officials to explain the concern repeatedly voiced by Democratic Progressive Party members, who said that the Ma administration’s cross-strait policies lean too much toward China.
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had
Taiwanese who have recently traveled to China for tourism, to visit friends or relatives or for business reasons have been interrogated, detained and faced other forms of unreasonable treatment from Chinese officials, a source said on Sunday. Among them was a Taiwanese who was detained for eight hours at an airport in China due to their research, which is related to religion, while others have had their travel documents for China canceled for a number of reasons, the source said. In July, China expanded the scope of its counterespionage law, and recently announced a draft amendment to the law on the protection
RSS